29 April 2014- The Philippine Embassy gave its full support to Filipino students in Beijing universities as they helped organize the 2nd Beijing ASEAN Students’ Games 2014. The Filipino students joined about 500 student-athletes from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam at the opening ceremony of the Games on April 19 at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). The month-long Games, which include events in track and field, basketball, volleyball, football, tennis, table tennis, bowling, chess, and snooker, will be held on weekends, culminating in a closing ceremony on 18 May 2014.
On hand to cheer on the student-athletes and launch the Beijing ASEAN Students’ Games 2014 were Secretary-General Ma Minqiang of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), BLCU President Cui Xiliang and officials from ASEAN embassies in Beijing. The ACC is the sponsor of this year’s Games.
With the slogan “Unity through Sports,” the Beijing ASEAN Students’ Games aims to promote solidarity and the ASEAN identity among ASEAN students in Beijing and to further enhance friendship and goodwill among them.
In his welcome remarks, ACC Secretary-General Ma Mingqiang said that the Beijing ASEAN Students’ Games is made more meaningful by the fact that the year 2014 has been declared by leaders of ASEAN and China as the "ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year.” Secretary-General Ma also took note of the fact that ASEAN students can make enormous contributions to the building of an ASEAN Community by 2015.
The program also featured performances of students from Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. END