China, Czech Republic pledge for deepened cooperation by forging strategic partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping(L) and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman attend a press conference after their talks in Prague, the Czech Republic, March 29, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

PRAGUE, March 29 -- China and the Czech Republic on Tuesday forged strategic partnership, ushering bilateral ties into a new era of seeking more common interests and deeper cooperation.

The upgrade of bilateral relations came as a result of the talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman in Prague during Xi's visit to the European country.

NEW DEFINITION OF TIES

During their talks, both presidents spoke highly of the current bilateral relations and reached broad consensus after in-depth discussion on bilateral ties, the relations between China and the European Union(EU) as well as the cooperation between China and the countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

The two countries issued a joint statement on lifting their ties to a strategic partnership after the talks, in which the two sides agreed to continue making close high-level contacts as the exemplary for over-all relations, enhancing friendly cooperation between ministries, legislative bodies and local governments.

The two sides decided to firmly support each other's core interests and major concerns in order to ensure the long-term, healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

The new definition of the bilateral ties has pointed out "a clear political direction" for future development, said Xi when jointly meeting the press with Zeman after the talks.

The establishment of the strategic partnership reflects the positive momentum of development of China-Czech ties, said Cui Hongjian, a senior research fellow on European studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

"The upgrade is not only significant to both countries, but also conducive to the China-CEE cooperation and China-EU relations," he said.

The two presidents also enjoyed close personal relationship. Recalling their five meetings in the past two years, Xi said he and Zeman have become "good friends, old friends."

"A good personal rapport between leaders can have good impact on state-to-state ties," said Cui, adding that the good interaction between Xi and Zeman, to some extent, helped to make Xi choose the Czech Republic as the first CEE country to visit.

DEEPENED COOPERATION

Xi and Zeman agreed to enhance production capacity cooperation in manufacturing industry such as machinery, automobile and aviation, deepen cooperation in such fields as finance, nuclear energy, air transportation and industrial park to establish all-dimensional connectivity, and push forward innovation cooperation in emerging fields such as e-commerce, communication, artificial intelligence industry, nanotechnology and environment protection.

"We are very proud of our economic and trade achievements with China," Zeman told the press.

For many years in a row, China has been the Czech Republic's largest trading partner outside the EU and the Czech Republic China's second largest trading partner in the CEE. In 2015, bilateral trade topped 11 billion U.S. dollars.

Statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce show that at the end of 2015, China's investment in the Czech Republic surged to 1.6 billion dollars from 200 million dollars in 2013. Meanwhile total investment from the Czech Republic to China amounts to 1.8 billion dollars.

"Economic and trade cooperation can be enhanced by giving full play to each other's advantages," said Cui, adding that the cooperation on aviation and industrial parks "are good examples" as the Czech Republic is very strong on aircraft manufacturing, while industrial parks construction is China's strength.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen the synergy of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" and the Czech development strategies, and jointly draw up a cooperation plan between the two countries, so as to serve as the framework for guiding their practical cooperation in the next period.

Zeman, referring to China as "a major economic partner" of the EU, said his country is committed to becoming a gateway for China to the EU and a hub of transportation, logistics and finance in China-EU trade by joining hands with China in deepening mutual trust and playing a conducive role in pushing China-CEE cooperation forward.

PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE EXCHANGES

As one of the three pillars of strategic partnership, people-to-people exchanges are also top on the agenda of Xi's visit.

During the talks, the two presidents agreed to broaden people-to-people and cultural exchanges in various fields, deepen cooperation in education, tourism, local-level exchange and sports, and increase the scale of exchange students, so as to consolidate the social foundation for the long-term and steady development of bilateral ties.

China has agreed to open a direct flight between Shanghai and Prague by China Eastern Airlines to boost personnel exchanges and bring benefits to the two peoples, said Xi.

He called on both countries to further promote traditional Chinese medicine in the Czech Republic, which hosts the first traditional Chinese medicine research center in the CEE.

Also on Tuesday, the two presidents met with a group of young ice hockey players and football players from both countries, encouraging them to contribute to the bilateral sports exchanges.

Besides cultural and people-to-people cooperation, local cooperation has also played an important role in China-Czech relationship in recent two years.

The cities of Beijing and Prague signed a deal to forge sister city relationship on Tuesday. In fact, all 13 states of the Czech Republic have set up cooperative ties with provinces and cities in China.

People-to-people exchanges are "decipherers" in cross-culture communication, said Zhao Junjie, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It helps to enhance mutual understanding and avoid biases among peoples, which in turn, will lay a solid foundation for bilateral ties," said Zhao.

Xi arrived Monday in Prague for a three-day state visit. It is the first state visit by a Chinese president in 67 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties.

After visiting the Czech Republic, Xi will travel to Washington D.C. to attend the fourth Nuclear Security Summit, which is to be held from March 31 to April 1.