Dear President Xiang Zhang and distinguished guests,
Today, the University of Hong Kong holds this grand congregation for the conferment of Honorary Degrees.
I am much honoured to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from HKU.
This is a great honour given to me by HKU. Thank you for your recognition of my work.
I will continue to endeavour contributing to the advancement of HKU’s innovation and development, and the promotion of cooperation in science and education between HKU and Mainland institutions.
The University of Hong Kong is an international publicly-funded research university. In its more than 100 years’ history since its establishment, HKU has trained a large number of excellent talents, achieved remarkable achievements in many disciplines and has gained a great reputation in Asia and even the world.
I remember my first visit to HKU in 2004 to conduct academic exchanges with Professor Che Chi Ming. In 2012, I was invited to HKU and delivered a talk on "China Science and Technology and Innovation: Progress and Outlook" for HKU students. HKU and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have jointly built five joint laboratories, which play an important role in promoting scientific and technological cooperation between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
In 2018, I was invited to visit HKU again when I met with President Xiang Zhang and we met for discussions with Chinese Academy of Sciences Academicians, foreign Academicians and scientific researchers of HKU to hear the progress report of the joint laboratory programme. Thankfully, many of the proposals at that time have now become reality.
At this time, the Central Government has placed further emphasis on the comprehensive development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and calls for deeper cooperation between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
I sincerely hope HKU can continue to play a leading role in scientific and technological innovation so as to seize the opportunity to further integrate into the nation’s overall development, and play a new and more important role in the process of building an international science and innovation hub in Hong Kong.
I sincerely hope that the people of Hong Kong can share the historical responsibility of national rejuvenation with the people of the motherland and at the same time share and enjoy the great glory of national development.
Finally, thank you again! I sincerely wish HKU a brighter and more brilliant future!
