On 29 April 2025, Ambassador Liu Yantao attended the Cyprus Forum Cities 2025 and gave a keynote speech. The following is the full text of Ambassador Liu’s speech：

Mayor of Limassol Yiannis Armeftis,
Vice Rector of Cyprus University of Technology Nicolas Tsapatsoulis,  
Executive President of Cyprus Forum Nicolas Kyriakides,
Distinguished Guests,  
Ladies and Gentlemen, 
Friends,

Kalispera! It gives me great pleasure to join you today at Cyprus Forum Cities 2025 and explore the future of City development.

Cities are the hallmark of modern civilization, embodying a nation’s comprehensive strength, governance capacity, global competitiveness, and its people’s happiness. Since the reform and opening up in 1978, China has undergone the largest and fastest urbanization process in world history. From 1978 to 2024, China's urbanization rate rose from 18% to 67%, with the urban population reaching over 900 million, and the number of cities increasing to nearly 700. The level and quality of urbanization have greatly improved as well. The new urbanization is an important part of Chinese modernization. Here, I would like to share with you four stories on the modernization of Chinese cities.

Story One: Innovation-Driven Growth—The Source of Vitality for Chinese Cities

Innovation-driven development is a defining feature of China’s urban modernization. Technological innovation is empowering industries to upgrade in quality, continuously advancing toward high-end, intelligent, green, and future-oriented development. Leading Chinese cities in innovation include Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou. Meanwhile, my hometown Changchun, located in Northeast China, is also accelerating development through locally adapted and innovation-driven transformation.

In Changchun, the government works closely with universities and enterprises, integrating regional economic strengths to jointly tackle key challenges. By upgrading traditional industries and planning for emerging and future industries, the city is enhancing its core competitiveness.

In the factories of FAW Group, which produced the first automobile of New China, unmanned logistics vehicles move freely through workshops. Production equipment reports its status in real time, robots perform their tasks precisely, and mechanical arms operate in an orderly manner—seats, batteries, and spare tires are installed with pinpoint accuracy. From these highly modernized production lines, uniquely styled Hongqi new energy vehicles roll off one after another.

Today, Changchun’s auto industry has undergone a high-end and intelligent transformation, with automation reaching 90%. Its rail transit company manufactures Fuxing bullet trains, subways, and maglev trains at world-class technical levels. The optoelectronic information industry is rapidly growing, leading the country in producing new materials like optical components. Furthermore, the city is cultivating emerging clusters in biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and healthcare. Looking ahead, Changchun aims to position itself as a city of automobiles, rail transit, satellites, new materials, and biomedicine, driving the collective development of future industries.

Story Two: Green Development—How a Megacity Broke Free from a “Garbage Siege”

Guangzhou, a megacity with 18 million population, once faced a severe “garbage siege”. To address this, Guangzhou pioneered the construction of a circular economy industrial park that integrates production, life, and ecology. As a result, it has become China’s first megacity to achieve zero landfill for raw household waste.

A representative example is the Fushan Circular Economy Industrial Park. Within the park, the Guangzhou No. 3 Resource Thermal Power Plant processes over 6,000 tons of household waste daily—about 30% of the city’s total. The heat generated from waste incineration is used for power generation, supplying over 1 billion kilowatts of electricity annually—enough to power 350,000 households for a year. Treated wastewater is reused within the park, and the solid waste residue from incineration is made into eco-friendly bricks for municipal road paving, achieving full-cycle solid waste management.

From the observation deck in Fushan Park, one sees lush greenery and neatly arranged modern facilities. The air smells not of garbage but of coffee. This site has even become a national tourist attraction, where green hills and clear waters coexist with industrial wealth.

Story Three: Smart Cities—The “Digital Companions” of Hangzhou Residents

Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province—home to tech giants like Alibaba—is a model for building a smart city. In Hangzhou, if residents want to apply for household registration, they can consult the digital assistant “Smart Cop Ai” via smartphone. Within seconds, a video tutorial is sent, guiding the residents to complete the online application.

Digital assistants are part of daily life in Hangzhou. “Smart Cop Ai” provides 24/7 answers to government-related queries; a mobile application called “Dream in Hangzhou” offers AI-powered treatment for sleep disorders; another mobile application called “Ebao’er” enables one-click access to health insurance services. These assistants are supported by the “City Brain”—a platform that uses big data and artificial intelligence to facilitate administration, oversight, and governance.

The smart “City Brain” is a product of human wisdom. At its core, it’s not about technological showmanship, but about being people-centered—using technology to understand and serve human needs. Future cities will be a blend of “digitized civilization with warmth” and “high-efficiency governance systems.”

Story Four: Openness and Inclusiveness—China’s Practice of International Sister City Cooperation

Cities are vital carriers of human civilization and cultural exchange. In China, international sister city cooperation has become an important platform for promoting openness and mutual understanding.

Sister city cooperation is a vibrant example of China-Cyprus relations. Chinese cities such as Nanjing, Qingdao, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Fuzhou, Weinan, and Yichang are twinned with Cypriot cities like Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, and Paphos. Under the initiative of our embassy, the China-Cyprus Sister City Alliance was established, evolving bilateral ties into a multi-dimensional network of cooperation. This alliance has fostered frequent exchanges and fruitful collaborations since its founding in September 2023.

The China-Cyprus Sister City Alliance demonstrates that cities are not isolated from each other, but interconnected nodes in a global network. They are at the forefront of open cooperation.

Dear friends,

Openness drives urban modernization. Developing ourselves through openness and contributing to global well-being is a steadfast commitment of China. Yet today, the world is facing a surge in unilateralism and protectionism. Some country is abusing tariffs, undermining WTO rules, and disrupting the global economy, worsening an already fragile situation. Tariff wars and trade conflicts benefit no one. In the face of such situation, appeasement only emboldens further bullying.

Countries must unite to safeguard a rules-based multilateral trading system, protect our legitimate rights and common interests, and uphold international fairness and justice. We firmly believe that economic globalization is an irreversible trend and that openness and cooperation are the call of our time. Despite headwinds and setbacks, the world will not revert to isolation and fragmentation.

Only by upholding equality, mutual benefit, openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation can we overcome the difficulties confronting the global economy.

China’s path to urban modernization is a journey of innovation-driven transformation, green development, technological empowerment, and open cooperation. We are ready to join hands with cities around the world—to let innovation flow, to let greenery spread, to let wisdom prevail, and to let friendship take root. Through sister city cooperation, we aim to inject urban strength into the shared endeavor of building a community with a shared future for humanity. Thank you!