The China-South and Southeast Asian College Students Goodwill Games Network was initiated by KUST and established officially on December 15th, 2022. The Network will serve as a regular platform for sports and cultural exchange between Chinese and South and Southeast Asian universities. It aims to promote communication, friendship, and common progress among young people from those countries and upgrade the brand effect of the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming. President Wang Hua and Vice President Yi Jianhong of KUST attended the inauguration ceremony. The heads of the International Exchange and Cooperation of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education, the Southeast Asian Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province, and the representatives of more than 20 universities and institutions from Bangladesh, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, and China attended the meeting online. Yi Jianhong presided over the meeting.
On behalf of KUST, President Wang Hua welcomed the guests and university representatives and thanked the experts and colleagues who have long been committed to promoting higher education cooperation between China and South and Southeast Asian countries. He believed the China-South and Southeast Asian College Students Goodwill Games Network will serve as a platform for promoting friendship, cooperation, and common progress among member universities and act as a bridge of cultural, educational, and sports exchanges for young students from those countries. He also hoped that through the “universal language” of sports, the education exchange and cooperation among member universities will go deeper and get more diversified, and the Network will inject new vitality for mutual learning of civilizations and people-to-people exchanges between China and South and Southeast Asia.
The Minister of Education and Sports of Laos, H.E. Phout Simmalavong, sent a congratulatory letter on the establishment of the Network. The Yunnan Provincial Department of Education, the Foreign Affairs Office of Yunnan People’s Government, and the representatives of Chinese and foreign universities also extended their congratulations and expressed their hopes and expectations for the future development of the Network.
At the same time, the first Council of the Network was held and the Charter of the Network was adopted. The University Presidents Forum was held as well. According to the Charter, Wang Hua, President of KUST, serves as the first chairman of the Council. The Secretariat of the Network is located at KUST and is responsible for the daily affairs of the Network.
The founding of the China-South and Southeast Asian College Students Goodwill Games Network offers another good platform for sports and cultural exchanges among young students in the region. At present, more than 20 universities and institutions have joined the Network from countries including Bangladesh, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, and China. It is believed that under the joint efforts of all members, the Lancang-Mekong College Students Goodwill Games and the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming will achieve greater success, and the Network members will have more frequent and fruitful exchanges in sports, culture, education, science, and technology.
It is reported that KUST has initiated and held the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming since 2015. It is one of KUST’s efforts to actively integrate into China’s Belt and Road Initiative and serve the construction of Yunnan as a hub reaching out to South and Southeast Asia.
In March 2016, the event of Lancang-Mekong College Students Goodwill Games was included as one of the Early Harvest Projects of the First Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting, and Yunnan Province was entrusted by the State Council to organize and implement it. In 2017, the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming was promoted to be sponsored by the Yunnan Provincial Government and organized by the Yunnan Provincial Foreign Affairs Office by virtue of its solid partnership, rich history, and good reputation. The event was also renamed as Lancang-Mekong College Students Goodwill Games and the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming.
By 2019, the event had been successfully held for five consecutive years, and a total of nearly 3,000 teachers and students from 12 countries in the region have actively participated. It has gradually developed into a shiny business card for cultural exchanges between Yunnan (or even China) and South and Southeast Asian countries. In September 2020, with the application of KUST and the approval of the Ministry of Education of the PRC, the Lancang-Mekong College Students Goodwill Games and the South and Southeast Asian University Cultural and Sports Week – Kunming was successfully listed as a project in the “Education Action Plan for the Belt and Road Initiative: Ministry-Province Brand Cultivation Programme”. The establishment of the China-South and Southeast Asian College Students Goodwill Games Network is one of the project’s major components.
Translated by: ZHANG Xiao, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures
Edited by: MA Lifei, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures (English)
Source: School of International Education, Institute of Physical Education
Issued by: Division of International Cooperation (English)
Edited by: KUST News Center (Chinese)
