Address by Ambassador Xie Hangsheng

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Your Excellency Mr. Brian Mikkelsen, Chairman Nils Foss, President Claus Hemmingsen,

Dear friends,
It is my great pleasure to take part in this reception to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between PRC and Denmark. I would like to express heartfelt thanks to Danish-Chinese Business Forum and Denmark-Hong Kong Trade Association for arranging today’s event.

It has been 60 remarkable years for the Sino-Danish relationship’s development. Especially the recent decade witnessed an accelerating development of the bilateral relations, featured with all-dimensional, wide-ranging and multi-tiered exchanges and cooperation.

As the Chinese ambassador to Denmark over the past 4 years, I have a lot to share with you about my feelings and understandings of the Sino-Danish relations. Today, I would like to focus especially on our economic and trade relations.

First, a strong economic cooperation plays a role as the cornerstone and catalyst for our bilateral relationship. The commercial exchanges between China and Denmark can date back to as early as the 17th century, when a Danish trade ship called “Fortuna” arrived in the south of China. In 1950 the establishment of diplomatic relationship opened a totally new page for the bilateral economic ties. As early as in 1957, our two governments signed a trade agreement. China's 60-year development, especially the last 30 years’ reform and opening up, has provided the impetus for deepening and expansion of China-Denmark relations, creating the conditions for the two sides to achieve common prosperity and development. In 1980, the Sino-Danish Joint Committee on Economy and Trade was set up, and since then 19 sessions have been held. The 20th session is going to be held in Beijing soon this year. In 2008, the bilateral trade volume reached 8.2 billion USD, which is a 2,700-fold increase in comparison with that in the early 1950s. Who could imagine today’s results 60 years ago?

Today, China keeps the position as Denmark’s largest trading partner in Asia, despite of the impact of the global financial crisis in 2009. The Danish business community’s interest in China continues to heat up, as more and more good news keep coming from various Danish enterprises in the Chinese market. Many of them have achieved excellent results and are expecting a better future. Meanwhile, Chinese companies begin to turn their eyes to Denmark. They are trying in various forms to have cooperation with Danish companies or doing business directly in Denmark.

Through this stronger and stronger economic cooperation, our two countries and two peoples are moving closer and closer to each other. I strongly feel that business people in Denmark are among those who are most familiar with China and understand China much better than others. Nothing can be more convincing than one’s own experience. People in the business and economic circles in both countries serve as a very good bridge between the two sides, a very true window to each other’s country, and a very vivid picture reflecting the bilateral ties.

Second, a solid and sound bilateral political relationship and mutual trust is the foundation and guarantee for strong bilateral cooperation. If we look back on the history, we cannot deny that Denmark’s decision to establish diplomatic relationship with China had laid down a good foundation for today’s bilateral cooperation. However, China-Denmark relations are not always plain sailing. They have also experienced difficulties and twists and turns. One reason is differences in historic and cultural traditions, social systems and levels of economic development. But it also shows that mutual understanding and trust is inadequate. History and practice are our best teachers.

Dear friends, many of you are successful businessmen and surely understand the huge importance for you to have mutual respect, understanding and open mind towards your partners. Now I am very glad to see that more and more Danes realise and recognise the significance of developing sound and stable Sino-Danish relations and are making their contribution to this end. Many of you present here today have also contributed your great efforts in this regard.

Both sides’ governments have been attaching importance to the bilateral political relations, which feature many high-level mutual official visits and exchanges. And since we have been sharing many common or similar views on inter-state relations and major international issues, as well as common interests in tackling common challenges, in 2008 we established a comprehensive strategic partnership. This is a mutual commitment to boost cooperation in all fields – politics and commerce, research and innovation, culture, education, and climate change, etc. In December last year, the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended COP15 and had a bilateral meeting with the Danish Prime Minister Mr. Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Just last month, the Danish Prime Minister paid a successful working visit to China and again had a very fruitful meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao. All these mutual exchanges and contacts are conducive to strengthen the political relationship.

Today, I’m pleased to say, thanks to the strong political willingness from both sides, our bilateral relationship is on the fast track. Against this backdrop, we can see the latest positive results, such as the establishment of a Sino-Danish Research and Education Center, as well as the coming China investment and trade promotion delegation led by China’s Commerce Minister Mr. Chen Deming this month. There’s no doubt that these projects and cooperation will bring tremendous benefits to both sides and further promote our relationship.

Regarding the future of the two sides, I believe confidently that our bilateral cooperation still has a huge potential and will enjoy an even brighter future. Our two economies are highly complemented by each other, and we share the common aspiration for free trade and are ready to jointly oppose all forms of protectionism. With the most advanced climate- and environment-friendly technologies, Denmark has managed to re-allocate the production resources worldwide, taking use of its strong positions in the areas such as innovation, research, design and service solutions. While deepening and widening China's reform and opening up, China is committed to the path of sustainable development focused on green growth. China is making its utmost to adjust the economic structure, to further promote domestic demand, to speed up the development of green and low-carbon economy. This kind of enormous change about the development strategy in China means to its partners, including the Danish partners, a huge market and lots of opportunities. Our past years’ cooperation in renewable energy, shipping, pharmacy, agriculture, manufacture, food, beverage and high technology have already accumulated successful experiences. And a solid foundation of bilateral cooperation has been built.

Dear friends,
Currently, the world economy has shown signs of recovery and is expected to gradually get out of the financial crisis. However, there is still a long way to go before the world economy can achieve sustainable growth. In the era of globalisation, cooperation and competition based on the market are undoubtedly the way we should approach. It is the only right choice for us to tackle the crisis and turn challenges into opportunities. Nobody can deny, in the context of the increasingly globalised world, that all nations are becoming more and more interdependent. China and Denmark ought to work together. Both governments should further optimise the business environment, and the enterprises of both sides should more actively explore cooperative potential of the markets. We should jointly oppose trade protectionism, vigorously cultivate new growth of bilateral cooperation, and consolidate the good momentum of economic turnaround. All this will bring tangible benefits to both our two countries and peoples and will also contribute to the whole world’s development.

Dear friends,
Many of you present here today have witnessed and taken part in the development of Sino-Danish bilateral relations. Let’s just look at the names of Danish-Chinese Business Forum and the Denmark-Hong Kong trade association. You are obviously among the major witnesses and participants in the development of the Sino-Danish bilateral relationship. So please accept my highest appreciation and sincere thanks for the efforts and contributions you have made to a sound China-Denmark relationship. With our continued joint efforts, I am fully confident that the Sino-Danish relationship, as well as the economic and trade cooperation between our two countries, will move towards a brighter future!

Thank you.