ASEAN-China Centre Co-hosts the 2026 China-ASEAN Youth Culture Week

On 25 October, the 2026 China-ASEAN Youth Culture Week opened at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) in Beijing. Co-hosted by the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), the Center for International Cultural Communication (CICC) of the China International Communications Group, and BFSU, the event is held under the theme “Hehe for the Future: Youth in a World of Civilizational Harmony” and brings together over 400 experts, scholars, youth representatives, foreign diplomats and industries from ASEAN and China. 

Zhang Lizhong, Secretary General of the ACC, CICG Vice President Yu Yingfu and BFSU President Jia Wenjian attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. Pham Thanh Binh, Ambassador of Vietnam to China, and Maubere Lorosae da Silva Horta, Ambassador of Timor-Leste to China also delivered remarks through video messages.

Zhang Lizhong highlighted 2026 as a milestone year, marking the 5th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He expressed hope that ASEAN-China youth would deepen mutual trust, strengthen friendship, and stimulate innovation, contributing youthful energy to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the building of a shared and beautiful home.

Yu Yingfu encouraged young people to be inheritors of friendship and cooperation, champions of innovation and development, and builders of a community with a shared future. Jia Wenjian expressed the hope that young people embrace diverse civilizations with an open mind and contribute to ASEAN-China cooperation and regional prosperity. The opening ceremony also featured the official launch of the 2026 China-ASEAN Youth Culture Week, a youth roundtable under the theme “China-ASEAN Youth Amid the Tides of the Times,” and an opening cultural performance.

Throughout the Culture Week, a series of youth exchange activities will be held, including the China-ASEAN Fieldwork Sharing Session, the Sub-Forum on Area Studies of the 2026 China-ASEAN Xishan Forum, the China-ASEAN Youth Friendship Sports Tournament, and the “Connecting China and Laos Through Language” Online Presentation Series by University Students, with parallel events also hosted at the ASEAN venue in Laos, to foster friendship among ASEAN-Chinese youth and jointly build a shared home.