ICRC – News Release
04 September 2023

Geneva/Beijing (ICRC) – Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), arrived in Beijing today for her first official visit to China.

During the four-day visit, President Spoljaric will have a series of high-level meetings and engagement with government departments, senior leadership of the Red Cross Society of China, academics, and think tanks.

She will also attend the 49th Florence Nightingale Award Ceremony in Beijing to pay tribute to seven Chinese nurses for their exemplary contributions to healthcare and humanitarian services. To mark the 160th founding anniversary of the ICRC and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, she will inaugurate a photo exhibition titled ‘160 Years on the Side of Humanity’ at the Capital Library in Beijing. The exhibition is co-organized with the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Xinhua News Agency. President Spoljaric will also visit Suzhou for a public event hosted by the International Academy of Red Cross and Red Crescent at Soochow University, where she will highlight how the ICRC and international humanitarian law can contribute to the goal of peace.

“I highly value the strategic and multidimensional nature of the ICRC’s relationship with China,” President Spoljaric said ahead of the visit. “During my visit, I look forward to discussing ways and means to enhance the global respect and compliance for international humanitarian law and to increase the collaboration between the ICRC and China to bring humanitarian assistance for conflict-affected communities.”

The ICRC Regional Delegation for East Asia has been based in Beijing since 2005, covering China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Mongolia.

The ICRC is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.