Chinese Mission to UN holds Spring Festival celebration in NYC

The Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) held a Spring Festival celebration at the UN headquarters in New York City, with 400 guests, including diplomats and officials of other countries, in attendance.

The Spring Festival, known as the Chinese New Year, is China's grandest traditional festival when people across the country return to their hometowns for family reunions. This year, it falls on Jan 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake.

Vibrant lion dances, drumming, and performances of traditional Chinese instruments earned enthusiastic applause at the event, while international guests also enjoyed hands-on experiences with Chinese traditions, including paper cutting, knotting, fan painting, and printing. Miguel Angel Moratinos, High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), extended his greetings to the Chinese people, sharing his expectations for strengthened cooperation between China and the UN.

"I'm very very proud to participate in this New Year, Lunar Year of China. For us, it's a good opportunity to really reinforce strong links and cooperation between China and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations," he said.

Movses Abelian, Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management, extended warm New Year greetings to the Chinese people.

"Happy Chinese New Year to all the best and all the festivities great success," he said.

Several permanent representatives of other countries also conveyed their best wishes to China and the Chinese people.

"I wish the Chinese people a prosperous year, which we celebrate the Chinese way today. I wish them further development for the benefit of all the Chinese in the country and worldwide," said Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN. "It's the Year of Snake. I hope it will bring luck, peace, prosperity, development to all the peoples of the world, and especially the Chinese friends. I'm very happy to be here among you," said Evangelos Sekeris, Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN.

"I would like to wish a very happy New Year to the friendly people of China. And I would like to wish all of them peace, prosperity, good health and inspiration," said Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN.

"We wish you all the best to China, to the friendly people of China. We wish them all prosperity, all good luck," said Koussay Aldahhak, Permanent Representative of Syria to the UN.

Chinese Mission to UN holds Spring Festival celebration in NYC

Distinguished Singapore researcher Kishore Mahbubani called on the West to learn to work with China rather than to try to suppress China in a recent interview with CGTN, China’s global TV network.

Kishore Mahbubani, a fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, pointed out that some Western media outlets have long framed China's development primarily through the lens of "threat". He argued that what truly deserves vigilance is not China's development itself, but the cognitive bias in how Western societies assess their own judgments.

"Western media often suggests 'what a surprise that China is doing so well, its economy is growing. This is not real.' But what many in the Western media forget is that at the end of the day, China still represents the world's oldest continuous civilization. China has led the world in so many phases of human history. So, the return of China today as one of the most successful societies in the world is a perfectly natural development," he said.

China has prepared itself for major growth.

"Please don't expect the Chinese economy to collapse. Please don't expect the Chinese economy to peak. Instead, with all the investment that China has already made in its infrastructure, in its scientific innovation capabilities, and in its people, with all these investments, China has already prepared itself for another major growth spurt. And that's what the major Western media should look out for," he said.

The West should collaborate with China, as China's growth and its affordable products benefit the global economy, he added.

"Instead of focusing on China as a threat, the West should see that China's economic growth and development is in many ways advancing the human condition. By creating better products, cheaper products, more fulfilling products, China is actually doing the global economy a favor. And the West should learn to work with China rather than to try to suppress China," he said.

West should learn to work with China rather than to try to suppress China: Singaporean researcher