Chinese vice president's European tour boosts friendship, cooperation
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's 11-day four-nation European tour has successfully achieved its objectives of promoting bilateral relations and deepening cooperation, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said Wednesday.
"It's the first important visit paid by China's senior leader after the conclusion of our annual parliamentary sessions and also his first Russian tour both as a leader of Communist Party of China (CPC) and the country," Wang said during his flight back on Wednesday.
The visit also coincided with China's 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with Finland and Sweden, making the visit quite significant, he added.
During his visit, the vice president held candid, in-depth conversations with leaders of these countries. He vigorously advocated business and pragmatic cooperation, encouraged further people-to-people exchanges and made a blueprint for the future of China's relations with the four nations, Wang said.
The visit also saw the signing of 60 cooperation agreements in such fields as economy, trade, energy, finance, environmental conservation, and culture, with a total value of 18 billion U.S. dollars.
ENHANCING MUTUAL POLITICAL TRUST AND DEEPENING TRADITIONAL FRIENDSHIP
"When meeting with the Russian leaders, Vice President Xi spoke highly of Sino-Russian strategic relations of cooperation and partnership, pointing out the two sides should keep enhancing mutual political trust, strengthen pragmatic cooperation of mutual benefit, deepen traditional friendship and take the Sino-Russian relations to a higher level," Wang said.
Talking to Belarusian leaders, Xi said China regards Belarus as its sincere friend and reliable partner. He reaffirmed it was China's steadfast policy to promote long-term, sound and stable Sino-Belarus relations, which would not only benefit the interests of the two countries and their peoples, but also help maintain regional peace and stability, the deputy minister said.
"In his conversations with Finnish and Swedish leaders, the Vice President expressed China's willingness to further improve mutual understanding, solidify traditional friendship, expand pragmatic cooperation in all sectors and enrich China's bilateral relations with the two countries," Wang said.
He also said the leaders of these four nations fully agree with what Xi has proposed to advance bilateral ties with China.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin felt satisfied with the current development of the Sino-Russian strategic relations of cooperation and partnership and are willing to work with China to strengthen strategic coordination so as to deepen the bilateral ties.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said China is its sincere partner for cooperation. His country regards China as a good friend and partner, while appreciating China's long-time selfless assistance to his country.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt valued Xi's visit on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between their countries and China. They would like to take this opportunity to strengthen cooperation in a wide range of fields and bring their nations' relations with China to an even higher level, Wang added.
He also pointed out that, visiting Russia as a leader of the CPC, the vice president attended the opening ceremony of the second round of dialogue between the Chinese and Russian ruling parties.
In his extensive communication with the leadership of Russia's ruling party, the United Russia, Xi gave many detailed suggestions for inter-party cooperation which have been well received by the Russian side and enriched Sino-Russian relations, Wang added.
Boris Gryzlov, chairman of the Russian State Duma and the United Russia Supreme Council, said all the member parties sitting in the State Duma support a friendly policy towards China. They were hoping to further the exchanges with the Chinese side on governing experience and to promote pragmatic cooperation, thus facilitating the long-term development of the relations between the two countries.
STRENGTHENING COOPERATION FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT
Despite the impact of the global financial crisis, economic and trade cooperation between China and the visited countries has a solid foundation and great potential because of strong economic complementarity and China's leading role in global economic recovery, Wang said.
Sino-Russian trade structure is being enhanced while bilateral economic cooperation continues to expand, he said, adding that China and Belarus are conducting pragmatic cooperation in ever more fields and on higher levels.
He also said Sino-Finnish and Sino-Swedish cooperation, while maintaining good momentum in traditional sectors, have seen new cooperation opportunities in fields including green economy, finance and the service industry.
During his visit, Xi briefed the leaders of the four countries on China's measures to tackle the global financial crisis and maintain sound and steady economic development while discussing post-crisis economic cooperation and expressing China's willingness for joint efforts to achieve common development.
Xi also attended many economic and trade symposia and other events, briefing local business communities on China's economic policies and encouraging them to cooperate with Chinese enterprises, Wang said.
For example, China and Russia signed 15 cooperation documents totalling 1.6 billion U.S. dollars covering economic, technological, energy and infrastructure cooperation in Vladivostok, the first stop of Xi's tour.
Wang said the signing of the documents put into practice the cooperation program between northeast China and Russia's far east and east Siberian region, which was approved by Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in September 2009.
Local media said Xi's visit to Vladivostok showed that China attaches great importance to bilateral cooperation, adding that further interregional cooperation is important to deepen Sino-Russian strategic relations of cooperation and partnership.
EXPAND PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE, CULTURAL EXCHANGES
Xi, together with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, attended the opening ceremony of the "Year of Chinese Language" in Russia, and delivered a speech.
Xi paid a visit to the "Ocean" All-Russia Childrens' care center and the Confucius Institute of the Far Eastern National University in Russia's Vladivostok. The center used to host some Chinese middle-school students and pupils for rehabilitation from southwestern China's Sichuan province, which was struck by a devastating quake on May 12, 2008.
He also visited the Confucius Institute and the Chinese language department of Stockholm University and held a symposium with some China-friendly persons.
During Xi's trip, China and Sweden renewed cultural exchange agreements, which would continue to support Sweden's Chinese language teaching and Confucius Institute building, encourage exchanges between the two countries' youths and expand scholarship programs between the two governments.
Xi said culture is enriched by exchanges and friendship is deepened by exchanges, adding the friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and concerning countries surely would become more fruitful and vigorous.
The visit successfully strengthened political mutual trust, deepened mutually beneficial cooperation, boosted traditional friendship, and improved common development between China and related countries.
Wang said the Chinese Foreign Ministry would carefully implement the agreements reached during Vice President Xi's visit, and push the friendly cooperation between China and the concerning countries and regions to a new high.
