The Chinese Culture Center was inaugurated in Berlin on Monday with officials from both countries applauding the opening of a new window for exchanges and mutual understanding.

Both Chinese President Hu Jintao and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder attended the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the center in November 2005.

At a ceremony held on Monday, more than 400 participants from both countries observed silence for victims of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan Province.

Visiting Chinese Vice Minister of Culture Chen Xiaoguang said the inauguration of the Chinese Culture Center in Berlin marked an important step in cooperation between the two countries.

Cultural exchanges are of vital significance against the backdrop of increasing challenges to the international community, said the Chinese vice minister.

They are of vital significance to the promotion of mutual understanding and trust between China and Germany, and to the handling of their relations in a correct way, according to the official.

Chen said the the center would serve as a new window onto Chinese culture and a new bridge for mutual understanding.

Reinhard Silberberg, state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, said cultural exchanges can never be one-way and that the Chinese Culture Center will be a window for the German people to understand China and a bridge for friendship with the Chinese people.

Silberberg also said Germany is ready to help the Chinese people with reconstruction after the devastating earthquake.

The Chinese Culture Center is located in the downtown Tiergarten area of Berlin, covering 2,800 square meters. Completed last year, the center is the third of its kind in Europe, after one in Paris, France, and another in Malta. It will offer a variety of activities, such as film screenings, forums and training classes on Chinese culture.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2008)