Mr. Jianguo He is sworn in as the first president of Democratic Republic of China after a peaceful revolution that overthrew the previous government in the year 2099.
To many of us today, this is not just an ordinary transfer of authorities that once again occurs in the vast ocean of Chinese history. Instead, my fellow citizens, this symbolizes a truly unique, momentous change. Because today marks the realization of the democratic dream into which generations of Chinese have devoted their lives.
From now on, every one of us is a true owner of this nation’s business. As owner, every one of us monitors the performance of the government not the other way around. As owner, every one of us shares the responsibility of maintaining this business and making it prosper; Our nation now faces a crisis, which could either reunite or divide her. We can work hard together on a better tomorrow, or we could all merely pray for and hope for its coming. Through the 5000 years of Chinese history, our ancestors all chose to compose the scores of their own destinies. It is now the time for us to carry on this tradition. Through history, our beloved nation embraced different cultures and created one out of them; she defeated foreign invasions and tyrannies; she also established one of the most ancient civilizations and some of the most advanced industries. All these feats remind us we, as a nation, have the ability to achieve so many and overcome the worst. With our hope and hard work, our nation will once again become the greatest.
Chinese people is perhaps among the most tolerant peoples in this world. For centuries, we have witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and governments. Our tolerance bred both spiritual heritage and tyrannies. However, I hope you will remain tolerant and at the same time become intolerant. I hope every one of you will continue to be tolerant of racial, cultural, sexual and religious differences of others. At the same time, I hope you will become intolerant of corruption, of government bureaucracy, of social injustice, of power abuse and of excessive government growth.
For long, people had been used to authorities working against us not for us. We endured the injustice, heavy tax burden and misery the previous governments and dynasties cast onto us. Since the beginning of this civilization, Chinese people have prayed for wise emperors, wise warlords or wise party chairmen. Because we believed that it was only one or few people who can bring justice and personal dignity to the rest of us. This is a dangerous thought. We must have a system that industriously generates wise leaders. We must realize that leaders like me are merely called to the office to serve our duties not to abuse the power granted by people. The qualification of this nation’s leaders shall not depend upon either their political background or their wealth. It shall not depend on their ability to organize voters and win elections. It shall only depend on their wisdom, justice, integrity and courage. Every one of us now holds the key to the successful accomplishment of this goal.
For long, people had been used to governments, which were legislatures, executives and judiciaries themselves. Perhaps, this was one cause of our suffering. We must act to change such misconception. Our newly established constitution has a clearly defined boundary among them. However, it is this administration’s job to further implement such definition. We must have legislature use all Chinese people’s interests and the moral mandates to serve humanity and equality as the sole motivations to create law codes. We must have judiciary serve justice at any cost. We must have executive fairly, effectively and efficiently enforce laws. No individuals and organizations including government can go above laws.
For long, we have solely relied on environmental deficits as the engine of our economy. We must understand no wealth can be more precious than a sustainable environment. We shall not mortgage our future and our children’s future. This nation experienced the most deadly earthquakes and the most devastating floods in human history. Instead of defeating her, these seemingly natural disasters united her people. Despite the spiritual victory we claimed, we must see that the causes of these catastrophes were often ours and the initiatives to prevent them are ours. Government alone cannot resolve this problem. Individual environmental awareness is the key solution.
Demand for peace is embedded in every man's gene. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the potential danger of wars that could jeopardize the sovereignty and prosperity of this nation. This government wants to assure you that using military strength must be an option but not always the first option and that it will not hesitate to exercise this power whenever necessary.
The previous government used economic growth to measure the quality of Chinese people’s life. For economy is merely one means to accomplish this goal, not the goal, this government will not make such mistake. That half of the nation are overwhelmingly rich and the other half are extremely poor does not mean the citizens are well off poverty. We don’t believe the equivalent concepts of quality of life and standard of living, which solely relies on economic development. Instead of excessively pursuing meaningless economic indexes, we will measure this success of this government by how successfully it allows citizens to live long, healthy and fulfilled life.
As the first administration of this government, we carry more responsibilities than many other administrations in history of this nation. I believe a good beginning is half of the battle. We must create solid bedrocks upon which succeeding administrations can well serve people. With such vision, we have outlined five major aspects this administration will focus on.
As I mentioned earlier, establishing legislatures, judiciaries and executives is the highest priority. These three institutions will form the new basis of this nation. This administration will not interfere with these three institutions. Instead, it will work with them and coordinate them in most efficient and effective ways.
There was always an obvious connection between social instability and uneven distribution of social resources. Thus, establishing a social welfare system that evenly distributes social resources is another fundamental task of this administration.
We are a country of over 1 billion people. It is undoubtedly insecure and impractical to rely on importing food from other countries. Producing sufficient food for ourselves becomes urgent. At the heart of this problem, it is the land. How to efficiently and sustainably utilize the limited land must be addressed. Therefore, it is not surprising that this administration has included land reform in its high-priority tasks.
Our fourth focus is on environmental issues. Within such context, we are compelled to address existing environmental issues as well as preserve for future. Governmental and private institutions will be called to devote necessary resources and skills to develop technologies that clean and prevent pollutions and to develop sustainable ways of utilizing environment that will help us make the best use of it while leaving sufficient environmental deposit for our children and their children.
Finally, The prosperity of a nation to a great extent is powered by its education system. Our education system exceedingly concentrated on promoting competition, indoctrinating political opinions and teaching skills rather than knowledge. This administration will help establish an education system that encourages our children to think and to innovate, that promotes honesty, righteousness, integrity, morals and mannerism, that rewards intellectual curiosity, that fosters creativity and that provides children with solid knowledge background.
I would like to conclude this address with words from the great freedom fighter, Dr. Martin Luther King: We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out deperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on..."
So let us begin to act, beginning today.
Thank you!
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