China is willing to work with the Netherlands to deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as agriculture, water conservancy, aerospace, education and scientific research, and tap the potential for cooperation in emerging fields including biomedicine, cross-border e-commerce, and green development, Wang said.
THE HAGUE, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — Mutual openness is a characteristic of Sino-Dutch relations and an important way to ensure common progress, and therefore should be promoted in the post-epidemic era, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Wednesday.
The visit of a Chinese foreign minister to Europe came after the outbreak of the COVID-19, which shows China’s confidence in the Netherlands to overcome the epidemic and its expectation for the further development of Sino-Dutch relations, Wang said during a talk with Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok.
Wang said that China is willing to work with the Netherlands to uphold multilateralism and set an example in safeguarding free trade, adhering to mutual openness and advocating fair competition so as to make joint contributions to facilitating the recovery of the world economy and responding to global challenges.
China is willing to work with the Netherlands to deepen cooperation in traditional areas such as agriculture, water conservancy, aerospace, education and scientific research, and tap the potential for cooperation in emerging fields including biomedicine, cross-border e-commerce, and green development, Wang said.
Noting that the Netherlands is an international transportation hub, Wang said that China is willing to strengthen the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Dutch side and jointly build a fast maritime passageway between the Port of Rotterdam and Chinese ports.
China will further expand the level of opening-up and build a higher-level new open economic system, he said, welcoming Dutch companies to seize the opportunity and actively participate in the third China International Import Expo.
Meanwhile, Wang hoped the Dutch side will provide Chinese companies with a fair, just, open and non-discriminatory business environment.
Wang stressed that facing the impact of the epidemic and the challenges of unilateralism, China and the European Union should strengthen coordination, deepen cooperation and jointly send a positive signal to uphold multilateralism, strengthen global governance, and build an open world economy.
He said that China is willing to work with the European side to jointly organize high-level exchanges between China and Europe in the second half of the year, complete the negotiation of a China-EU investment agreement within this year, and deepen dialogue and cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, climate change, green development, digital, and anti-epidemic.
Wang voiced hope that the Netherlands will continue to play an active role in promoting the sustained, healthy and stable development of China-EU relations.
For his part, Blok said that Dutch-Chinese relations are open and the two countries have always maintained robust cooperation.
The Netherlands, he said, is willing to maintain the momentum for high-level exchanges with China, deepen cooperation in various fields, continue to work together to fight the epidemic so as to accelerate the economic recovery of the two countries.
Blok said that the Netherlands agrees to uphold multilateralism and free trade, and is willing to strengthen coordination with China in international affairs, jointly address global challenges such as climate change, safeguard an open free trade system, and deliver mutual benefits.
He added that Europe-China relations are very important, and the Netherlands is committed to reaching an EU-China investment agreement.
The two sides also had an in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern.