Peng Liyuan attends summer camp for Chinese, African children in Beijing

BEIJING - Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Friday attended the "Love in the Sunshine" summer camp for children from China and Africa, which is being held in Beijing.

Peng is a World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education.

In a speech on Friday, she said that the summer camp is not only a get-together for Chinese and African children, but also a clear demonstration of the closeness between China and the African continent.

Chinese and African people have always understood and supported one another in their pursuit of happiness, Peng said. And as a companion on Africa's development path, she added, China is not only committed to ensuring the healthy growth of Chinese children, but also to contributing its strength to the healthy growth of African children.

Noting that China and Africa will always be sincere friends, Peng expressed the hope that all of the children at the summer camp would become the inheritors of the traditional friendship between China and Africa, and a new force in the construction of a China-Africa community with a shared future.

Participants representing all of the children who gathered for the summer camp expressed their sincere thanks to Peng for her long-term care, and said that they would cherish their time, study hard and become messengers for the China-Africa friendship.

Children from South Africa, Namibia, Somalia, Uganda, the Central African Republic and other countries, as well as children from the Yi autonomous prefecture of Liangshan in southwest China's Sichuan Province and the city of Ruili in southwest China's Yunnan Province, were invited to attend the summer camp. China-based diplomatic envoys from relevant African countries were also invited to attend.