15 April 2025
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honored to deliver these remarks on behalf of H.E. Philemon Yang, President of the General Assembly, who sends his regrets that he could not be with us this morning.
My sincere appreciation to H.E. Mr. FU Cong, Permanent Representative of China, for his invitation.
Today, we commemorate Chinese Language Day; we celebrate its beauty, its longevity, its history, and its reach.
Indeed, at thousands of years old and with billions of speakers, the Chinese language is a legacy language – it is foundational.
On its shoulders – or rather, in its words and prose – are the stories and experiences, the histories and dreams – of an entire civilization that has never been interrupted.
The evidence of this is clear today. We see it in Chinese literature, in music, and in popular culture.
We see it also in poetry.
Straddling the sphere of language and art, poetry weaves together the stories of our lives in a beautiful, satisfying and rhythmic prose.
It is said to ‘flow off the tongue’, conjuring imagery and sentiment.
It is no wonder that poetry can be found in all societies, and in all of human history.
In China, the “Book of Poetry” includes poems that are estimated to be 3,000 years old.
Those poems capture the full spectrum of human life – the friendships, the romances, the tragedies, and everything in between.
In its elegant script, Chinese poetry is both an aesthetic expression of art and a historical narrative of how China and its people view this world.
Excellencies,
Beyond the artistic, poetry is a tool to promote dialogue and build solidarity across borders and cultures.
As we celebrate the Chinese language, let us also spotlight the power of language – whether in literature, or song, or in poetry – to bring people together and to find common solutions to collective challenges.
As the United Nations, with its six official languages, we have a responsibility to leverage and embrace the diversity and reach of each of those languages.
Because multilingualism is the cornerstone of dialogue and cooperation among Member States.
The President of the General Assembly is committed to upholding this principle and this responsibility. He has placed multilingualism at the core of his Presidency’s priorities.
He calls upon the international community to take today’s event as an opportunity to join him in that prioritization and – as we celebrate the Chinese language – to embrace the spirit of dialogue and collaboration inherent in multilingualism and essential to multilateralism.
I wish I could say all of this in Chinese, by evoking the great poet Su Shi, but I think the translation still beautifully states what he says:
“I only pray our life be long, and our souls together heavenward fly!”
Happy Chinese language Day. (Zhōngwén Rì Kuàilè).
I thank you.