At the head of a large delegation, His Excellency Mr. Chen Weiping, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and his country’s special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), visited the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) in Jeddah, on Sunday 06 Dhul-Qa’dah 1443H corresponding to 05 June 2002G.

He and his accompanying delegation were received upon their arrival by Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy, who thanked him for his visit, which is the first of its kind by a high-ranking Chinese official to the General Secretariat of the Academy since its inception.

His Excellency the Ambassador expressed his great thanks and great gratitude to His Excellency the Secretary General for the warm reception and excellent welcome, stressing his great interest and keenness to make this visit to the Academy within the framework of his country’s relentless endeavor to strengthen relations of cooperation, coordination and partnership with the OIC and its affiliated bodies especially the Academy, which is the supreme jurisprudential reference for the member states of the Organization and for Muslim communities outside the Muslim world. His Excellency also praised the distinguished intellectual and scientific efforts undertaken by the Academy in order to spread the culture of moderation, tolerance and coexistence for a safe and stable world.

His Excellency added that his country’s government views with appreciation and praise these great efforts, and looks forward with enthusiasm to consolidating the bonds of cooperation and coordination with the Academy in order to serve those noble humanitarian goals that call for cooperation, communication, integration, coexistence and acquaintance among peoples, by organizing some purposeful scientific activities within China and abroad, expressing on this occasion his country’s honor to present an official invitation to His Excellency to visit the Republic of China to discuss aspects of cooperation and coordination on various issues and topics of common interest between the Academy and the relevant intellectual and scientific institutions and centers.

For his part, His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy expressed his sincere thanks and great appreciation to His Excellency the Ambassador for this visit, which is a clear expression of the desire of His Excellency and the People’s Republic of China to enhance cooperation and coordination on various issues and topics that concern Muslim communities in China. His Excellency also congratulated the Ambassador on his appointment as a Special Envoy of his country at the OIC, wishing him success in his duties, and wishing that this meeting would be the beginning of building strong and sustainable relations of cooperation and coordination between the Academy and the authorities supervising religious affairs in China.

Then His Excellency took advantage of the occasion by giving his honorable guest a brief overview of the Academy’s vision, mission, objectives, programs and activities, stressing in the meantime the Academy’s full readiness to cooperate with the Chinese authorities in order to promote moderation and tolerance among the Muslim communities living in the People’s Republic of China, and help them preserve their Islamic identity, while adhering to the requirements of citizenship, and respecting the laws and regulations in force within their country; noting in this regard that religious freedom is a natural right guaranteed by instinct to every human being everywhere, and that enabling every person to practice the rites of their religion and belief in complete freedom, which is agreed upon by noble universal human values, considering that forcing a person to embrace a particular religion is considered an insult to their dignity, and an assault on their freedom of choice. Hence, the Academy’s efforts were and still are focused on calling for respect for freedom of belief, rejection of extremism, fanaticism, exclusion and terrorism, as well as correcting misconceptions about the values, principles and teachings of Islam that reject all forms of conflict and adherence to citizenship requirements.

His Excellency also expressed to his guest that he particularly welcomes his invitation to visit the People’s Republic of China in the very near future in order to meet with the Chinese authorities supervising religious affairs and visit Muslim communities in China, in order to strengthen relations of cooperation, communication, partnership and coordination.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Liu ZhenYong, First Secretary, Chief of Political Section at the Embassy, ​​ Mr. Li Jinglun, Third Secretary at the Embassy, ​​ Mr. Mohammed Al-Mondher El-Chouk, Director of Cabinet Affairs and Protocol at the Academy, Ms. Sarah Amjad Hussein, Director of Women and Family Affairs at the Academy, and Mr. Mourad TLiLi, Advisor to the Secretary General of the Academy for Media Affairs.