Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Wednesday conveyed his sincere New
Year's greetings to all foreign experts working in China,
especially the elderly experts who have worked in support of
China's revolution and construction for decades.
Zhu conveyed met with 20 elderly foreign experts and their families
in the Great Hall of the People, including Israel Epstein,an
experienced Jewish writer known to almost every Chinese household
for his decades of work in China.
The premier said China treasures the friendship and cooperation
between foreign experts and the Chinese people, stressing that the
Chinese people will "forever remember" their contribution to
China's revolution and construction over the past decades.
China will persist in its policies of reform and of opening up to
the outside world, and encourages more foreign experts and overseas
Chinese to visit the country to learn more about it and to
participate in its economic construction.
According to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs,
about 440,000 foreign experts came to work in China in 2001, and
again in 2002.
Zhu also briefed the foreign experts on China's overall economic
development. He said the Chinese economy grew by 8 percent last
year despite the global economic slowdown.
The premier urged all departments concerned to continue their
efforts to improve the living conditions of the elderly foreign
experts.
He
also encouraged foreign experts to make proposals and suggestions
related to China's development.
The meeting between Zhu and the elderly foreign experts on the eve
of the Spring Festival, China's lunar New Year which falls on Feb.
1 this year, has become a tradition, and Wednesday's meeting was
the fourth of its kind.
(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2003)