China and Poland regard each other as a long-standing and stable strategic partner, and see the other’s development as an important opportunity for mutually beneficial and win-win results, according to the document signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the country.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda walk in front of the Guard of Honor during the welcoming ceremony in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, June 20, 2016.
Guo Jiping is a renowned commentary column of the People’s Daily that interprets China’s stance and views on major worldwide issues.
China and Poland will make use of existing bilateral mechanisms to deepen cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, finance, transportation and logistics, infrastructure construction, civil aviation, energy, agriculture, e-commerce, science and technology, and environmental protection.
“There is a very high convergence between China’s initiative (to develop European ties) and Poland’s development plan”.
China attaches great importance to the ties with Poland and hopes to consolidate traditional friendship, expand cooperation in all fields and lift the bilateral relations to a new height, according to Xi. The statesmen are expected to sign a series of agreements, including a deal to end value-added tax on flights between their countries and another to boost Polish food exports to China, AFP reports.
Proposed by Xi in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China with Europe through Central and Western Asia by inland routes and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road connecting China with Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe by sea routes.
Launched by China in January, the AIIB includes several European countries among its members but the United States and Japan declined to join.
“It is certainly still too early to say we’ve reached some kind of conclusion”, he said, revealing only that “multi-billion sums” were involved.
“I hope that for China, Poland will become a gateway to Europe”, Duda said, noting that Poland’s largest port in Gdansk had the potential to handle large volumes of goods.
Xi and Duda inked a broad strategic partnership deal on political and economic cooperation, part of Beijing s much vaunted efforts of establishing land and sea links for European trade, known as the “Belt and Road” policy.
On Monday, Xi is also due to meet Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and Parliament speakers.
Xi and his wife arrived late Sunday from Serbia and had dinner with Duda and the First Lady.
A nation of 38 million people, Poland remains one of the EU’s most vibrant economies, clocking uninterrupted annual growth since it shed communism in 1989. He will also visit Uzbekistan for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Chinese and Russian-led security grouping.
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The last visit to Poland by a Chinese president was in 2004, by Hu Jintao.
