ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｐｕｂｌｉｃｉｔｙ Ｇｒｏｕｐ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ａｕｓｔｒａｌｉａ ａｎｄ Ｎｅｗ Ｚｅａｌａｎｄ

Invited by the Australia-China Friendship Society and the New Zealand-China Friendship Society， a 4-member CPAFFC publicity group visited Australia and New Zealand from September 14 to 27， 2003. The Group， consisting of Li Shantong， director general of the Research Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy under the Development Research Centre of the State Council， Wang Qiliang， former Chinese ambassador to Portugal and Denmark， and two CPAFFC staffers， visited Sydney， Melbourne， Adelaide， Brisbane， Auckland， Wellington and Christchurch. They introduced to the Australian and New Zealand public China's achievements in economic development and social progress since reform and opening up， answered questions and made friends extensively. The visit has enhanced mutual understanding and friendship.

The Group gave 9 public lectures， each lasting about two hours. The two speakers would use 40 minutes for their briefings， leaving the rest of the time for questions. Ambassador Wang Qiliang firstly talked about the tremendous changes in every aspect of the Chinese society brought about by the rapid economic development in the last 25 years since the country adopted the policy of reform and opening up， especially in the areas such as people's daily life， consumption， employment， the establishment of welfare and medical care insurance systems， education， environmental protection， and China's foreign policy as well. He centred his talk on the following 4 aspects: 1. China is in a rapid and stable development stage; 2. It is undergoing extensive and profound reform; 3. It is still confronted with a series of problems; 4. It will maintain sustainable development. It will neither disintegrate as some people say， nor pose a threat to the world. Li Shantong used charts and statistics to show the present economic development in China. Her talk can be generalized into the following points: 1. Economic and social development; 2. The extent of market openness; 3. Economic reform; 4. Economic development prospects. She completed her talk by explaining why the coming 10 years would be a key period for China's economic development. The audience， with great interest， listened attentively， wrote down notes carefully and asked questions one after another. Even when the chairman declared that the lecture ended， many people would not leave. Surrounding the members of the Group they bombarded them with questions. Those who came to the lectures included members of the ACFS and the NZCFS， university and middle school teachers and students， Sinologists， heads of local overseas Chinese communities， business people and government officials.

The audience held that the lectures were excellent. The speakers， instead of reading out prewritten speeches full of general principles， provided concrete figures and trust-worthy facts to prove their views. The speakers and the audience interacted and stated their views frankly. They talked about the achievements as well as problems. Neither hiding nor avoiding talking about the existing problems， they exchanged opinions like friends. Many people said that they had rarely seen before such lectures on China for the general public and hoped that there would be more in the future.