President's article in Polish newspaper says China, Europe should deepen common interests
China and Europe should closely match each other's development strategy and deepen joint interests, President Xi Jinping wrote on the eve of his visits to Serbia and Poland.
"Now both China and Europe are pushing forward structural reform," Xi wrote in an article published in the major Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita on Friday.
"As two major powers, major markets and major civilizations of the world, China and Europe can closely match each other's development strategies, deepen joint interests, promote joint growth and contribute to world peace and development," he wrote.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that Xi will pay state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan from June 17 to 22. He will also attend the Meeting of the Council of the Heads of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, from June 23 to 24.
Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said Xi's visit will bring more outcomes for the China-proposed Belt and Road projects, given that all the three countries are located on the key points of the ancient Silk Road.
The Belt and RoadInitiative, proposed by Xi in 2013, is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes. Considering its geographic importance, Central and Eastern Europe marks an essential part in China's Belt and Road Initiative, as a quarter of the countries along the routes are located in the region.
"Countries in Central and Eastern Europe including Poland are keen to develop ties with China to attract more Chinese investment," Wang said.
Poland is China's largest trading partner in the Central and Eastern Europe region, while China is Poland's third-largest supplier of imports. Trade between the two countries reached $17.2 billion in 2014.
Xi's state visit to the Czech Republic in March has achieved fruitful outcomes, prompting many other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, to develop closer ties with China, Wang said.
Sun Yuxi, former Chinese ambassador to Poland, said that countries in Central and Eastern Europe have worked with China on a number of major projects including the bridge across the Danube in Belgrade, which has improved the region's infrastructure.
The Central and Eastern Europe region now faces the task to upgrade its transportation, electricity and other infrastructure as well as industrial equipment, while China is strong in construction capacity and supporting services and can meet the environmental standards in the region, said Chen Xin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Last November, Polish President Andrzej Duda paid a state visit to China, during which Xi announced that China would explore a new logistics corridor to reach Central and Eastern Europe through Poland.
Beata Stoczynska, deputy director of Asian and Pacific Department of the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry, said at a forum on Poland's role within the Belt and Road Initiative in late May that Poland expects stable relations with China in areas including cooperation within the "16+1" China-CEE formula, and within China-EU cooperation.
