On September 28th, 2007, a grand signing and unveiling ceremony for the Jakarta Chinese Language Teaching Center was held at the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia. Ambassador Lan Lijun, on behalf of the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban),signed a cooperative agreement with the Jakarta Chinese Language Teaching Center (BTIP) and unveiled the plaque for the Confucius Institute. The Chinese language Coordination Office of the Education Ministry of Indonesia, Chinese Language Education Coordination Mechanism in Indonesia, relevant universities, Hainan Normal University, Hebei Normal University, Guangxi Normal University,altogether nearly 200 people, were at the ceremony.
Ambassador Lan Lijun delivered a speech at the ceremony. He said that the establishment of the first Confucius Institute in Indonesia is a milestone of the educational cooperation between China and Indonesia. Confucius is a famous thinker, educator, philosopher in Chinese history; therefore, the name of Confucius Institute reflects the long history and profound language and culture of China. He hoped that the Confucius Institute would make contributions to enhance the understanding and friendship between the two peoples and strengthen the education and cultural exchanges and cooperation between two sides.
Ambassador Lan Lijun pointed out that in recent years, China and Indonesia signed a joint declaration of a strategic relationship, aimed at strengthening the bilateral educational cooperation, actively carrying out training exchanges as well as encouraging teaching the language of the other side. With the rapid and stable development of China's economy, the relationship between the two sides has become closer, as a result, a growing number of Indonesian universities and educational institutions expressed their hope of cooperatively establishing a Confucius Institute with a Chinese partner institute. To our delight, we see that the Education Ministry of Indonesia agreed to establish the Confucius Institute at the Jakarta Chinese Language Teaching Center so as to meet the demands of learning Chinese language in Indonesia.
The president of the Jakarta Chinese Language Teaching Center expressed that after more than 40 years of development, Chinese language teaching faces various difficulties and challenges. Now the first Confucius Institute in Indonesia established at the Jakarta Chinese Language Teaching Center, which has engaged in teaching Chinese language for 12 years, is impossible without the affirmation and confidence various circles placed on us for our continuous and active spreading of Chinese language.
Zhang Chengyi, Vice President of Hainan Normal University, the Chinese partner institute, expressed that although there do exists difference between China and Indonesia in terms of politics, economics and culture and other fields, through the platform of the Confucius Institute, based on the principles of mutual respect, mutual learning, we believe that we can further deepen the mutual understanding, seek common ground while reserving differences so as to obtain common development. The Confucius Institute is bound to become a cultural bridge for exchanges between the two sides.
Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily in Jakarta, Indonesia's main news media International Daily, Jakarta Post, Metro Television Station attended the ceremony and reported on the event.
