Fifty years of China-Cyprus relations marked with photo exhibition

By Lanting Liu

The 50^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cyprus was marked by the opening of a big photographic exhibition at the Cyprus foreign ministry.

The exhibition, which was opened on the day diplomatic relations were established, December 14, is the final of a series of events undertaken by the two countries to mark this anniversary.

The Press and Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs  of Cyprus, with the cooperation of the Chinese Embassy, put together the exhibition titled “China-Cyprus: Witnessing the Profound Friendship of the 50 Years Since the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations”.

Ambassador Liu Yantao and minister Nikos Christodoulides spoke at the opening which was attended by 50 people, including many government officials as well as representatives of Chinese businesses and of Chinese living in Cyprus.

Ambassador Liu said: “An everlasting China-Cyprus friendship is in the fundamental interests of our two peoples. Our friendship is precious and promising. It needs our commitment and dedication. As we stood together in upholding common principles and values for the past 50 years. We must continue to jointly defend peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom – the common values of all, in building a community with a shared future for mankind.”

Christodoulides agreed with what ambassador said and added: “Although Cyprus and China are far apart, they have established and maintained a profound friendship. In recent years, bilateral relations with strong resilience have continued to deepen and expand. The two countries have many common interests and work together to defend fairness and justice under the framework of international law.”

There are 30 photographs on display giving an overview of the development of diplomatic relations over the last 50 years, depicting high-level visits and important exchanges.

Ambassador Liu also presented Christodoulides the mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Bing Dundun and Xue Rongrong.