At the invitation of CAFIU, a 19-member joint NGO delegation composed of prominent politicians, NGO leaders, think tank researchers, media representatives and businesspeople from CEEC (Central and East European Countries), namely, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania headed by Mme. Urve Tiidus, Member of Parliament and former Minister of Culture of Estonia visited Beijing and Fujian from May 9 to 18, 2016.

 

In Beijing, Liu Hongcai, Vice-Minister of the International Department of CPC Central Committee and CAFIU Advisor met with the delegation. He expounded upon the “new normal”of Chinese economy and China-CEEC relations.  Deputy Secretary-General Zheng Yao held a working discussion with the delegation on the development of NGOs in the four countries. Experts from the China Institute of International Studies and Development Research Center under the State Council gave thematic lectures on China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative, the 13th Five-Year Plan and new development philosophies. The delegation also called on the Secretariat for Cooperation between China and CEEC and listened to the introduction to the “16+1 cooperation”. Moreover, the delegation visited the Confucious Institute Headquarters.

 

Apart from Beijing, the delegation also visited Fuzhou,  Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Li Lin, Vice-President of Fujian People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries  and Li Jiping, Vice-Chairman of Quanzhou Municipal Committee of the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) met with the delegation on separate occasions. The delegation listened to the briefings given by some leading members of Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission on the building of the core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and cooperation between Fujian and CEEC. The delegation visited Fujian Energy Group, Fujian Radio, Film and Television Group, Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Xiamen Port Holding Group and had discussions with relevant leaders on the topics such as the “Belt and Road” Initiative, international industrial-capacity cooperation, FTZ development strategy and media development. The delegation also visited historic and cultural sites such as Sanfang Qixiang cultural street, the Shipyard Culture Museum in Mawei, the Fujian-Taiwan Kinship Museum and the Ancient Oceangoing Voyages Museum in Quanzhou.

 

     Promoting Understanding and Friendship through Exchanges

 

The majority members of the delegation came to China for the first time, therefore they cherished this rare opportunity very much. Throughout the visit, they were very active. When participating in lectures, seminar or discussion, they would raise questions or make comments; when making field studies, they would carefully listen to introductions while be busy with taking pictures. They said that they were bombarded with information everyday. They learned real things on the ground and found out what they had seen and heard were somewhat different from some coverages on China by western media. Mme. Tiidus, leader of the delegation, said that although she had been to China before, she found great changes had taken place in China. China was a country with a vast territory. Each time she visited China, she would have some new discovery, thus increasing understanding of the country and its people. Mr. Dainius Radzevicius, President of Lithuanian Journalists Association, remarked that during the visit he could observe China’s realities from political, economic, social and cultural perspectives and thus get an overall picture of China. Mr. Doru Frantescu, Director of Institute for Participatory Democracy (Euro Qvorum), pointed out that the Chinese people were very warm-hearted and hospitable. Everyday he was looked after very well. He was often invited by ordinary people to take a photo with them, which indicated that the Chinese people were curious about foreigners and hoped to make friends with them. Mr. Mindaugas Reinikis, Founder of Lithuania-China Forum and President of the Federation of Airline Companies made it clear that the good relations between China and Baltic States could be traced back centuries ago. At that time, one Lithuanian priest came to China’s Fujian Province conducted missionary activities and made outstanding contributions to cultural exchanges between the two countries. He hoped that the two countries could carry on the old tradition and expand the friendly exchanges in the new historic era.

 

Some members of the delegation frankly expressed their opinions on China’s development path and philosophies. Ms. Maria Malksoo, Senior Research Fellow in International Studies at Tartu University of Estonia, commented that different from some big countries, China could hold equal dialogues with great sincerity in the principles of mutual respect, consultation and joint effort with other countries, even small countries like Estonia when it came to implementing the “Belt and Road” Initiative. Mr. Raivis Zeltits, advisor to Minister of Culture of Latvia held that China had strong organizing and executing capacities to advance the “Belt and Road” Initiative. Other countries might learn from China to make ambitious long-term national development blueprints.

 

        Joining Hands in Pushing forward Win-Win Cooperation
  
China and CEEC enjoyed traditional friendly cooperative ties over a long time. In recent years, the implementation of the “16+1 Cooperation” and the “Belt and Road” Initiative in particular injected new impetus to bilateral relations and brought unprecedented opportunities for mutual cooperation. The China-CEEC relations entered into a totally new phase and developed very fast with deepened cooperation in various fields.  

 

Aware of such trend, the delegation members said that they were happy to see the China-CEEC exchanges expanding continuously and new progresses achieved in pragmatic cooperation. They expressed willingness to contribute to enhancing bilateral exchanges and cooperation. Mr. Viljar Veebel, Associate Professor of National Defense University of Estonia maintained that the Baltic States, though not in the center of Europe, occupied an important position linking the East and West and were willing to have more exchanges with China and draw on each other’s strengths. Recently, more and more Chinese tourists came to the Baltic States. Local people became more interested in China and more people began to learn Chinese than before. He hoped such momentum would be sustained. Mr. Zeltits added that many Chinese people went to Latvia to do business and helped local economic and social development, so they were welcomed by local people. During their visit, some delegation members were eager to make good suggestions or act as intermediary for bilateral cooperation. Mme. Tiidus expressed the hope that Chinese business people would invest more in CEEC. Meanwhile, she thought Chinese market had large potentials and was very attractive to CEEC. She hoped to find out the secret to achieve successes in Chinese market to be brought home. Mr. Andrei Novikov, Member of Parliament of Estonia, pointed out that there was bright prospect for China and CEEC to carry out industrial capacity cooperation since they had industries with special features. Both sides could complement each other and achieve win-win result. Mr. Frantescu told us that Romania was strong in agriculture, wine-making and energy production and could expand cooperation with China in these areas. Mr. Juris Paiders, President of Latvian Journalists Association and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Independence Morning Post said that presently Latvia was actively making preparations for the Fifth China-CEEC Leaders Summit scheduled to be held in Rica in October, 2016. Latvia would do its utmost to make it a success. He made a specific proposal that as Latvia was the coordinator for transport cooperation under the 16+1 framework, it could make use of its unique location and good ports to build a main transport route through CEEC all the way to Iran by pooling efforts of various parties. He hoped that China would render special support for this initiative.