Category: Europe

On November 6, 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Iliana Iotova on her election as President of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Xi Jinping pointed out that Bulgaria is the second country in the world to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China [on October 4, 1949]. Mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and win-win results constitute the defining feature of bilateral relations. Xi added that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Bulgaria relations, and stands ready to work with President Iliana Iotova to guide the two countries to forge ahead hand in hand on their respective paths of development and revitalisation, foster a more positive, pragmatic and dynamic bilateral relationship, and deliver greater benefits to the two peoples.

Iotova has served as president of Bulgaria since 23 January 2026. A member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP, the principal successor to the former ruling Bulgarian Communist Party), she previously served as vice president under Rumen Radev from 2017 to 2026, when she became the first Bulgarian vice president to assume the presidency intra-term due to Radev’s resignation. Following parliamentary elections, Radev became prime minister on 8 May. And following a first round of presidential elections on 25 October, Iotova secured a clear victory in a second round of voting on 1 November.

The international media widely report the election victories of Iotova and Radev as ones for an independent foreign policy, including constructive relations with Russia and an end to support for NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine.

Deutsche Welle reported: “‘We are choosing between war and peace,’ Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told voters ahead of Sunday’s presidential election runoff between incumbent President Iliana Iotova, who opposes military aid to Ukraine and favours dialogue with Russia, and former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, who is regarded as staunchly pro-European and pro-Ukrainian. With these words, it was clear that Sunday’s runoff had turned into a kind of referendum on the country’s foreign policy and stance on the war in Ukraine. Now that the official results are in and it is clear that Iliana Iotova won the election decisively by 57.6% to Gyurov’s 39.5%, Radev claims that Bulgarians have chosen peace.”

Balkan Insight wrote: “Iotova built her campaign as ‘the President of peace’: she has pledged to offer a more balanced attitude towards Russia and be sceptical about further military aid to Ukraine. She has also called for Bulgaria to be less obedient to the EU.”

For her part, Iotova said her electoral message had focused on “incomes, peace and the challenges that lie ahead”.

Bulgaria was the final stop on Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent regional tour which also took him to Azerbaijan, Croatia and Montenegro.

On October 19, he met with President Iliana Iotova who asked him to convey her sincere greetings to President Xi Jinping, stating that Bulgaria and China have long enjoyed friendly relations, and that Bulgaria was the second country to recognise the People’s Republic of China. In 2019, the two countries established a strategic partnership, and bilateral exchanges have continued to develop on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Bulgaria admires China’s remarkable achievements in artificial intelligence, scientific and technological innovation, environmental protection and the improvement of people’s living standards. Bulgaria will continue to pursue the one-China policy. “Last October,” she noted, “I attended the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women in China, where I reached broad consensus with the Chinese side on cooperation for the next stage.” The two sides are stepping up planning for high-level exchanges next year and look forward to bringing bilateral relations to a new level. Bulgaria’s new government has a strong willingness to accelerate cooperation with China, which also enjoys broad public support. Bulgaria looks forward to opening direct flights with China as soon as possible, deepening economic and trade cooperation, and facilitating personnel exchanges and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Bulgaria hopes to expand cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, education and new energy. Bulgaria shares China’s views on the political settlement of conflicts and hopes that China will continue to play an important role in safeguarding world peace and is ready to strengthen coordination with China in this regard.

Wang Yi conveyed President Xi Jinping’s cordial greetings to President Iliana Iotova, and appreciated her, as an old friend of China, for her personal commitment to promoting the development of bilateral relations and enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges and friendly ties between the two peoples. Bulgaria is one of the first countries to recognise the People’s Republic of China, and the two countries have a solid political foundation with growing mutual trust. Despite differences in history, culture and systems, the two sides understand, appreciate, respect and support each other, which has promoted the steady and sound development of bilateral relations and brought benefits to the two peoples. China respects Bulgaria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, supports Bulgaria in accelerating development and revitalisation, and is glad to see Bulgaria play an important role on the international stage. Bulgaria’s new government has demonstrated its ambition to accelerate relations with China, and China is also ready to strengthen communication and expand cooperation with Bulgaria to help each country accelerate development and revitalisation. Relations between states are fundamentally about interactions between people. The two sides should enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges and mutual understanding, consolidate the public and social foundation of bilateral relations, and provide greater impetus for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation. The world today is fraught with chaos and instability, and peace and development face unprecedented challenges. China is ready to strengthen multilateral coordination with Bulgaria, bridge differences through dialogue, transcend estrangement through trust, overcome challenges through action, jointly practice multilateralism, and build a community with a shared future for humanity.

On the same day, Wang also met with Prime Minister Rumen Radev.

Radev asked Wang Yi to convey his sincere greetings to the Chinese leaders, stating that Bulgaria cherishes its traditional friendship with China and admires China’s tremendous development achievements, and that China is an important stabilising force for safeguarding peace in today’s world. Bulgaria firmly adheres to the one-China principle and will not conduct any official exchanges with Taiwan. Bulgaria-China relations have a long history and bright prospects. Bulgaria warmly welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, and will increase government support, ensure policy stability and provide a sound business environment. Radev stated that historically Western countries actively supported economic globalisation and trade liberalisation and viewed China as somewhat conservative and closed, but today China has become a staunch supporter of globalisation and free trade. Europe has concerns about its trade deficit with China, but Chinese goods with high quality and competitive prices have helped curb inflation in Europe; in reality, neither side can do without the other. Bulgaria-China cooperation on connectivity enjoys good prospects, and Bulgaria is willing to serve as a gateway and bridge connecting Eurasia and linking Europe and China.

Wang Yi conveyed the Chinese leaders’ cordial greetings to Rumen Radev, stating that forging a new future for China-Bulgaria relations requires consolidating the political foundation and deepening political mutual trust so as to create better conditions for bilateral cooperation in various fields. China appreciates Bulgaria’s continued adherence to the one-China policy and its understanding and support for China’s legitimate position of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity. China and Bulgaria enjoy traditional friendship, with bilateral relations on a solid foundation and having broad prospects; upgrading the positioning of bilateral relations is a natural and logical step. China is ready to deepen political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results with Bulgaria. China will be Bulgaria’s most reliable and long-term strategic partner in its development and revitalisation. The Belt and Road Initiative and the China Railway Express have boosted transcontinental and trans-regional connectivity, and these, together with Europe’s Middle Corridor vision, can complement and reinforce each other, rather than exclude or offset one another. China is ready to strengthen strategic alignment with Bulgaria, support Bulgaria in playing a bridging role in Eurasian connectivity and achieve mutually beneficial and win-win outcomes for China and Bulgaria as well as for China and Europe.

In his meeting with Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Poulev, Wang Yi congratulated him on the full success of his visit to China not long ago. He said that it is currently an important period of opportunity for the development of China-Bulgaria relations. Bulgaria’s special geographical position makes it an important bond connecting Asia and Europe, and as an EU member, it can play a positive role in strategic cooperation between China and the EU. China is ready to work with Bulgaria to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the Middle Corridor development.

Poulev said that his visit to China not long ago was a complete success, and the high-level reception by the Chinese side reflects the great importance China attaches to Bulgaria. The new Bulgarian government has the readiness and long-term planning for developing relations with China and is ready to serve as a gateway for Chinese enterprises to enter Europe.

Meeting Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova, Wang Yi said that China-Bulgaria relations are embracing important opportunities, and this visit to Bulgaria is well-timed. The two sides conducted in-depth communication on planning high-level exchanges in the next stage and advancing practical cooperation in various fields, reaching broad consensus. It is necessary to continuously consolidate the political foundation and strengthen communication and coordination, so as to create important conditions for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation. China respects Bulgaria’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, welcomes Bulgaria’s realisation of its development goals at a faster pace under the leadership of the new government, and is ready to be a long-term and trustworthy strategic partner of Bulgaria in this process. China and Europe are partners rather than rivals and are development opportunities rather than challenges for each other. The two sides should respect each other, appreciate each other, make achievements together, and jointly shoulder the international responsibilities for world peace and development.

Velislava Petrova said that Bulgaria and China share a profound traditional friendship and have achieved fruitful results in cooperation in various fields. Bulgaria has long adhered to and will continue to firmly follow the one‑China policy. Actively developing relations with China is the clear direction of the new Bulgarian government. Bulgaria is ready to strengthen cooperation with China in economy and trade, culture, education and other fields, expand cooperation in high‑tech and high value‑added fields, and really looks forward to the early opening of direct flights between the two countries. Bulgaria, located between the East and the West and at the crossroads connecting the European and Asian continents, attaches great importance to connectivity and is ready to find more converging interests with China in this field.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir visited China from October 26 to 31.

Meeting his Icelandic counterpart in Beijing on October 29, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Iceland. Iceland has always been a pioneer in developing relations with China. At the early stage of the establishment of diplomatic ties, Iceland explicitly supported the restoration of China’s lawful seat in the United Nations and was the first European country to sign a bilateral free trade agreement and a bilateral currency swap agreement with China. He added that the successful experience of developing China-Iceland relations is adhering to the equality of all countries, large and small, respecting each other’s independently chosen development paths, and achieving win-win cooperation on the basis of mutual trust. The two sides should continue to consolidate friendship and mutual trust and support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests. China is ready to share development opportunities with Iceland, tap cooperation potential, strengthen cooperation in economy and trade, geothermal energy, green transition, oceans, the Arctic and other fields, enhance exchanges in tourism, joint scientific research, talent training and other aspects, and vigorously promote people-to-people connectivity between the two countries. In the face of the current turbulent international situation, the two sides should strengthen coordination, jointly uphold multilateralism, international rule of law and the central role of the United Nations in international affairs, promote the building of a more just and reasonable global governance system, and make new contributions to safeguarding world peace and stability.

Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir congratulated the Communist Party of China on convening the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee, saying that China’s success is also of great significance to the world. Iceland has always harboured friendly feelings toward China. The ideas in President Xi Jinping’s works on governance are deeply inspiring, especially the people-centred governance philosophy. Iceland admires China’s tremendous development achievements, attaches great importance to Iceland-China relations, understands and respects China’s position of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will continue to abide by the one-China policy. She thanked China for its valuable support for Iceland in safeguarding its core interests such as fisheries. Iceland is ready to work with China to actively promote the upgrading of the free trade agreement and continuously deepen and expand cooperation in fields such as economy and trade, fisheries, geothermal energy, green energy, and Arctic affairs. Currently, international law and multilateralism are facing challenges, and free trade is facing headwinds. Iceland is ready to strengthen coordination with China, uphold international rule of law, free trade and multilateral mechanisms, and jointly respond to global challenges.

Previewing the visit, the Global Times newspaper spoke with Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Cui said that Iceland’s abundant geothermal resources have long provided a foundation for cooperation, with the two countries having established projects in geothermal exploration, development and utilisation. In 2025, when Icelandic President Halla Tómasdóttir was in China for the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, the two sides reached important common understandings on deepening cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, geothermal energy, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. And Air China has now launched a regular Beijing-Reykjavik service for the first time.

The Icelandic Foreign Minister’s visit to China also comes as geopolitical competition intensifies, particularly in the Arctic, with the US showing growing interest in the region, as it apparently seeks to expand influence in Iceland and other Arctic countries, particularly amid tensions over Greenland, Cui noted. The Associated Press reported that Iceland has been uneasy about the US’ intentions toward it after the US president posted a map showing the colours of the US flag sprawling across all of North America and extending to Iceland and Greenland. Against this backdrop, “Iceland’s efforts to strengthen ties with China reflect a broader desire to maintain a balance in its relations with major powers, a challenge that has become increasingly important for Reykjavik.”

China and Serbia agreed two important joint statements and concluded a raft of cooperation agreements during President Aleksandar Vučić’s May 24-28 state visit.

The Joint Statement by the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Serbia on Continuing to Advance the Building of a China-Serbia Community with a Shared Future in the New Era said that the two heads of state had agreed that building a community with a shared future for the new era is a strategic choice made by both sides based on each other’s development paths and the will of the people. Although China and Serbia differ in history, culture, and national conditions, they have always firmly defended national sovereignty and territorial integrity, always upheld fairness and justice, always stood on the right side of history, always upheld the spirit of openness and cooperation, are committed to people’s happiness and national prosperity, are committed to upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and to achieving the noble cause of peace and development for humanity and building a community with a shared future for humankind.

China highly appreciates Serbia’s achievements in economic and social development and improving people’s livelihoods, supports Serbia’s efforts to maintain national stability and social harmony, and is pleased to see Serbia smoothly advance the “Serbia 2030” development strategy, achieve its established goals on schedule, and promote Serbia’s development and people’s well-being.

 China also welcomes Belgrade’s hosting of the 2027 World Expo and is willing to actively participate, contributing to the successful hosting of this important event and strengthening cooperation with Serbia in areas of mutual concern such as culture and economy.

Serbia, for its part, wishes the Chinese people the full success of building a modern socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the smooth achievement of the second centenary goal. It supports China in comprehensively advancing the construction of a strong nation and the great cause of national rejuvenation through Chinese-style modernisation.

Among the other key points agreed are:

• Both sides reaffirm their firm support for each other’s safeguarding of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity, emphasise respect for the rights of their peoples to independently choose their own development paths and social systems, support each other on issues involving each other’s core interests and major concerns, and oppose external forces interfering in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext.

• Serbia reiterated that developing friendly relations with the People’s Republic of China is one of the main pillars of the country’s foreign policy and underlined its firm support for China on all its core issues of major concern.

• China reiterated its opposition to imposing any proposals on the status of Kosovo and Metohija. Relevant parties should, within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, reach mutually acceptable solutions through dialogue and consultation. In this process, Serbia’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity must be fully respected. China supports the Republic of Serbia’s efforts to seek a peaceful compromise through dialogue with representatives of the Pristina Temporary Institution, calling for the implementation of the agreements reached in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to effectively safeguard the religious and cultural heritage security of Serbia’s southern provinces of Kosovo and Metohija.

• China understands Serbia’s efforts to become a member of the European Union and welcomes Serbia’s policy of developing friendly relations with regional countries and promoting regional peace and cooperation.

• Serbia supports China’s efforts to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and agrees that, in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, the direct parties should peacefully resolve territorial disputes and maritime rights disputes through friendly consultation and negotiation.

• Both sides agreed to deepen exchanges and cooperation in counterterrorism, prevention of “colour revolutions,” security for Belt and Road projects, and security for large-scale events, jointly combat various transnational crimes, continue joint police patrols and SWAT (tactical strength and endurance) joint exercises and training, and jointly improve law enforcement and security operation capabilities

• They both highly appreciate the positive role of the Belt and Road Initiative in promoting the economic and social development of Serbia and China and are willing to continue deepening and expanding cooperation in trade, investment, transportation, energy, information, technology, and humanities within the framework of the initiative.

• They also fully affirmed the importance of the China-Europe Railway Express between China and Serbia in promoting economic and trade cooperation between them and are willing to jointly take pragmatic measures to promote infrastructure connectivity, ensure the safety of China-Europe Railway Express transport corridors, and improve transportation quality and efficiency.

• Both sides highly praised the achievements of their cooperation in technological innovation and will further strengthen pragmatic cooperation in space technology, artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, digital economy, and new energy, jointly cultivating new quality productive forces.

• Serbia places great importance on its membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a bank initiated by China that enables access to concessional loans and the implementation of priority projects.

• Both sides are willing to continue deepening cooperation in exchanges among young scientists, joint research, and technology transfer, support research institutions and enterprises in jointly building joint laboratories, science parks, and incubators, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and strengthen the integration of innovation ecosystems.

• Both sides are willing to strengthen technological exchanges in the aerospace field, explore cooperation projects, promote practical cooperation, encourage close exchanges between enterprises and research institutions from both sides, achieve complementary advantages and mutual benefit, and advance space technology to serve economic and social development.

• Both sides are willing to strengthen financial cooperation, re-sign bilateral local currency swap agreements, encourage financial institutions of both countries to use RMB swap funds to support trade and investment activities between enterprises from both countries, promote the further expansion of bilateral local currency settlement by Serbia’s RMB clearing bank, and facilitate trade and investment between the two countries.

• Both sides attach great importance to cooperation in the field of e-commerce, continuously advancing the implementation of the “China-Serbia E-commerce Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding” signed in 2024, and are willing to study and promote compatibility of e-commerce rules and standards, expanding cooperation in online and offline national pavilions. China welcomes Serbia to participate in the “Silk Road E-commerce Benefits the World” series of events.

• Both sides highly praised China-Serbia achievements in education, sports, healthcare, tourism, and local exchanges, and expressed willingness to further deepen vocational education cooperation and strengthen digital education and AI-empowered educational cooperation; Strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the health sector on bilateral and multilateral platforms, and promote the building of a community of human health and wellness; Deepen tourism cooperation and continuously improve the convenience of personnel exchanges; Encourage more provinces and cities of both countries to engage in friendly exchanges and promote positive results in sister city relations between China and Serbia.

A separate Joint Statement by the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Serbia on Jointly Promoting the Implementation of Four Major Global Initiatives emphasises the contemporary value and global significance of promoting the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilisation Initiative, and Global Governance Initiative.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić paid a state visit to China from May 24-28.

On the afternoon of May 25, President Xi Jinping held talks with his Serbian counterpart at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

President Xi noted that during his state visit to Serbia in 2024, the two sides jointly opened a new chapter of building a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era. Over the past two years, efforts to build this community have produced positive outcomes, which have not only brought benefits to the two peoples, but also set a fine example for state-to-state relations. The Chinese and Serbian nations have both experienced sufferings and glories and forged a persevering and tenacious character. Both nations are dedicated to pursuing independence and defending national dignity and understand the importance of promoting peaceful development and upholding fairness and justice. The two sides need to strengthen exchanges, consolidate mutual trust, deepen cooperation and extend mutual support, and work together to embark on a bright path toward a shared prosperous future, and bring China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.

President Xi emphasised that the China-Serbia ironclad friendship is unique and underpinned by deep historical logic and a strong practical foundation. The two sides should continue giving each other firm support. China supports Serbia in following a development path that fits its national conditions and stands ready to strengthen experience sharing on governance with Serbia. The two sides need to strengthen the connection between their development strategies, work for the sound implementation of the mid-term action plan for Belt and Road cooperation, and further advance cooperation in areas such as transport and energy infrastructure. Facing a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the two sides need to expand cooperation in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, green energy and advanced manufacturing, and identify new areas of growth.

In a changing and turbulent world, China and Serbia need to continue stepping up coordination and collaboration in international affairs, practice true multilateralism, and make unremitting efforts to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation and advance the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

President Vučić extended congratulations on China’s success in formulating and launching its 15th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development and expressed his confidence that under the leadership of President Xi, China will make greater achievements in its development. Since Serbia and China established a comprehensive strategic partnership, relations between the two countries have made remarkable progress, and cooperation has deepened across the board. The Serbian and Chinese peoples enjoy an ironclad friendship. The Serbian people will never forget China’s support for Serbia in safeguarding its independence and sovereignty and in pursuing its own path of development.

Serbia looks forward to working with China to deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, advance major projects, intensify people-to-people exchanges, and achieve more tangible results in Serbia-China relations. China, as a major country, has always treated smaller countries with equality and respect, and abided by international law, setting a good example for the world. Serbia supports the major global initiatives put forward by President Xi and stands ready to continue strengthening multilateral coordination with China to safeguard international peace, fairness and justice.

After the talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation documents in the areas of political relations, economy and trade, science and technology, education, legal affairs and culture.

 The two sides issued a joint statement on continuously building a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era and a  joint statement on advancing the implementation of the four global initiatives. We will report on these in a subsequent post.

In the evening of May 25, President Xi held a presentation ceremony to award the Friendship Medal to President Vučić at the Great Hall of the People.

Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, paid a visit to Slovakia from May 18-20.

During his visit, Li respectively met with President Peter Pellegrini, Prime Minister Robert Fico and National Council Speaker Richard Rasi. He also held talks with Deputy Speaker of the National Council Tibor Gaspar.

Li said that under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Slovak leaders, the development of the China-Slovakia strategic partnership has entered a new stage. Both sides should continue to consolidate political mutual trust, deepen traditional friendship, and firmly support each other’s core interests and major concerns, building up the foundation of bilateral relations.

China is willing to strengthen strategic alignment with Slovakia, deepen and expand practical cooperation in trade and investment, new energy, digital economy and other fields, promote high-quality joint construction of Belt and Road projects and China-Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation, and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, bringing more benefits to both peoples.

The Slovak side welcomed more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Slovakia and said the government will strengthen exchanges between both legislative bodies and promote the Slovakia-China strategic partnership to be more dynamic.

Li’s delegation then visited Albania from May 20-22 and met with Parliament Speaker Niko Peleshi and Deputy Prime Minister Albana Kociu, held talks with Deputy Parliament Speaker Klodiana Spahiu, and exchanged views with the Albanian-China Friendship Association.

Li said that China appreciates Albania’s important support for the restoration of China’s lawful seat in the United Nations and is willing to work with Albania to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, consolidate the foundation of political mutual trust, explore potential for practical cooperation, enhance the friendship between the two peoples, strengthen exchanges between the legislative bodies of both countries, and continuously inject new vitality into China-Albania relations. (On October 25, 1971, the then Socialist Albania led 17 UN members in proposing General Assembly Resolution 2758 which expelled the representatives of the authorities on Taiwan and restored China’s rightful place in the world body.)

The Albanian side said that it values the traditional good relations between the two countries, firmly supports the one-China principle, and is willing to share the opportunities of China’s development.

In the 1960s and 1970s, China sent more than 6,000 experts and assisted in more than 140 projects in Albania, providing outstanding support for the country’s economic and social development. Some of the projects are still in operation today.

The speaker of the Portuguese parliament Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco recently visited China.

Meeting his guest on April 8, Zhou Leji, Chair of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said that China and Portugal are traditional friendly countries and comprehensive strategic partners with mutual respect, mutual trust and win-win cooperation. China is willing to work with Portugal to respect each other’s core interests and major concerns and continuously build and expand consensus on the basis of equality and sincere dialogue.

Noting that the two sides should deepen cooperation in culture, science and technology, education and tourism, and build a solid public opinion foundation for bilateral ties, Zhao called for making good use of mechanisms such as the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, expand trilateral cooperation with Africa, Latin America and other regions, and jointly practice true multilateralism.

Aguiar-Branco said Portugal firmly adheres to the one-China policy, adding that deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between Portugal and China is an important consensus among all political parties in Portugal.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Aguiar-Branco the same day. He said China is willing to work with Portugal to jointly expand cooperation using Macao as a platform, promote the China-EU partner positioning, and maintain international unity and cooperation.

Aguiar-Branco said the Portuguese side appreciates the successful implementation of “one country, two systems” in Macao and hopes to further promote bilateral practical cooperation and multilateral communication and collaboration with China.

Friendly relations between China and Portugal have developed steadily since the April 1974 revolution overthrew the fascist Caetano regime and especially following the formal establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in February 1979. What is particularly striking, and indicated above, is the contrast between the Portuguese approach regarding Macao and that of British governments regarding Hong Kong. In the latter case, continual neo-colonial interference and bad faith act as a constant irritant in and impediment to bilateral relations. In stark contrast, Macao acts as a bridge of friendship and practical cooperation not only between China and Portugal, but also between China and all the Portuguese-speaking countries, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

Additionally, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will pay an official visit to China from April 11 to 15 at the invitation of his counterpart Li Qiang.

Announcing the visit, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning observed that this would be Sanchez’s fourth visit to China in a four-year period, adding that it represents another significant high-level exchange between China and Spain in a short period.

Noting that Spain is an important partner of China within the European Union, Mao pointed out that in recent years, China-Spain relations have developed at a high level under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, with solid progress made in cooperation across various fields and benefiting the two peoples.

“China is willing to work with Spain to take Prime Minister Sanchez’s visit as an opportunity to further deepen strategic mutual trust, enhance communication and cooperation, strengthen multilateral coordination, and promote China-Spain relations to a higher level, contributing more to safeguarding world peace and stability,” Mao said.

Sanchez has stood out as a strong opponent of the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, as well as in defence of the rights of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, prompting US President Trump to make an escalating series of threats against Spain, including one to sever all trade.

The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.