Thank you, President Gu, for that most flattering introduction.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honour for me to speak at one of China's great academic institutions – one that is helping to revive and maintain your country's historic tradition of leading the world in science and technology, and one whose alumni are to be found in positions of leadership throughout the country.
Here, as in so many other places in China, no visitor can help feeling the excitement of a great country developing at breakneck speed, and every day opening up new vistas of knowledge and opportunity to its citizens. You can be really proud of your country and what it has achieved in the last 25 years.
As I look out over the young faces in this audience I cannot help envying the international students – more than a thousand, I am told, from over 50 countries – who have the privilege of sharing your learning experience here.
It reminds me for a moment of my own student days, when my country, Ghana, was newly independent. We felt we were suddenly reaching out to the world, and making new discoveries every day.
But then I also remember that times of rapid change can bring pain and confusion, even destruction, as well as progress and excitement.
The more rapid and exciting it is, the more change calls for careful management, and wise, humane leadership.
Order and stability have to be preserved, but without choking off the freedom to enquire, and experiment, and express oneself, since – as you young researchers know better than anyone – knowledge and science have a vital role in national development.
And technical expertise needs to be harnessed to the development and security of society as a whole, so that it not only creates greater wealth for the few, but enables all citizens to feel safer and more prosperous.
The development of such a great country as China cannot happen in isolation. It affects the whole world, and it draws you into new relationships with other parts of the world.
Increasingly, your economy depends on exchanges with other countries – both imports and exports, of both goods and capital. Foreign investment plays an essential role in your growth, while your holdings of foreign currencies – and your management of your own currency – are coming to play a vital part in the international monetary system.
This means that you have a stake in the development and prosperity of the wider world. And your secur