I. Why do the six ministries and department including the foreign ministry jointly hold the "2008 Spring Festival Gala Performance for the Diplomatic Staffs Residing Overseas and Their Families"?

Wang: China has altogether 256 overseas diplomatic offices worldwide. We send more than 5,500 diplomatic staffs abroad. They come from all over the country. The Spring Festival is coming. There is a Chinese saying that "I miss my family all the more on every festive day". Today, our six ministries and department jointly hold the celebration to extend festival greetings to all the Chinese diplomatic staffs abroad and their families. We want to "express our sincere feeling, make them feel warm and encourage their enthusiasm".

You may see the family trees behind me. On those trees we hang our best wishes to our loved ones who work overseas. Each card represents a small family and carries the care of parents to their kids and the affection of wives to their husbands. To put all those cards together it symbolizes a "big family" and that is our motherland. We hope to convey the greetings and love of the Party, the government, the motherland and the people to the diplomatic staffs aboard. I believe those staffs, after receiving the cards and watching today's TV program, will be devoted with greater enthusiasm and sense of mission and responsibility to the diplomatic undertaking.

II. Could you describe the basic status of the Chinese diplomatic staffs residing overseas? How do you comment on this diplomatic force?

Wang: they deserve the trust of the Party and the people. This diplomatic force is composed of talented people from all over the nation. No matter to which country or region they are dispatched, no matter how harsh and complicated the local conditions are and no matter how far they are from the motherland they always give top priority to the interest of the Party and the country and are devoted to the Party, the motherland, the people and the diplomatic undertaking.

It is also a force with glorious tradition. At the very beginning of its establishment, late Premier Zhou Enlai told us to "stick to our position, understand policies, learn skills and abide by discipline". Those words are deeply rooted in the mind of generations of diplomatic staffs and always guide our behavior.

The diplomatic work today is different from that in the past and has developed remarkably. Our diplomacy is drawing increasing attention from all circles of the society, and we need increasing understanding and support of the public to do our diplomatic work well. The 17th National Congress of the CPC outlined our future direction and worked out the blueprint of Chinese diplomacy. We should rally closely around the Central Party Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as the General Secretary, fulfill the mission entrusted by the Party and the country resolutely, maintain the national interest firmly and protect the image of our country. Meanwhile, we will try our best to serve the people who will remain our strong backup force in carrying forward the diplomatic undertaking.