Look for Common Interests
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Poland. What are your expectations for the bilateral ties in the coming months?
Although geographically China and Poland are separated by thousands of miles, we are old friends. The relationship between our nations is based upon principles of mutual respect and equality. Many Chinese and Polish friends contributed greatly to strengthen our relations and friendship. Thanks to their efforts our nations together have maintained stable relations and built profound traditional friendship in face of all the changes that swept through the world in the last 70 years.
Since the beginning of this century China-Poland cooperation in various areas has been deepening. After the exchange of visits by Polish President Andrzej Duda in 2015 and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016 our relationship has been lifted to comprehensive strategic partnership level, achieving enormous progress in such areas as trade and investment, connectivity, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges.
Looking into the future, China will continue sincere efforts in further development of China-Poland relations. China will constantly increase the scope and pace of its opening up to the world. I hope that the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations will be a new starting point for both sides. We should take this opportunity to build on our past achievements and work together to build stable and long-term comprehensive strategic partnership in the future.
What have been the most important challenges for China-Poland relations in recent years?
No conflict or divergence of interests exist between China and Poland. Presently, there is still considerable potential for development of China-Poland economic and trade cooperation, especially when compared with the size of our economies. Both sides ought to enhance synergy between our development strategies, look for common interests, and explore the potential for mutually beneficial cooperation.
Moreover, despite the fact that in recent years both our peoples have taken significant interest in each other, our mutual understanding is still limited. Many Polish friends do not know whole picture about China. I believe that in order to improve mutual understanding we should increase people-to-people exchanges.
On The Belt and Road Initiative
The New Silk Road project appears like a big chance to strengthen relations between the CEE region and China. What can Poland do to be a leader of this project？
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) drawing on spirit of the ancient Silk Road encourage strategic integration of countries along the Belt and Road, and aims to reach prosperity through cooperation. After nearly six years of unremitting efforts, the preparatory works for the BRI has been completed, and it has entered the phase of stabilization and bearing fruits.
Poland, as a major hub linking Asian and European markets and the biggest economy among the CEE countries, is an important country along the Belt and Road. Back in 2015 China and Poland signed the MoU on Belt and Road cooperation. China puts great importance on strengthening dialogue and cooperation with Poland under the framework of BRI and “16+1 Cooperation”. We hope that Poland will take advantages of her vast area, good location and development opportunities to continuously promote the construction of the BRI, strengthen the "16+1" mechanism in order to further develop China-CEEC relations. I believe that China-Poland bilateral cooperation will further improve under the advancement of the BRI and “16+1” platforms.
What kind of development opportunities BRI presents to Poland?
For the last few years under the framework of BRI and “16+1 Cooperation” China-Poland cooperation grows fast. In 2018, the bilateral trade volume between China and Poland reached US$24.58 billion, an increase of 15.3% year on year. There are nearly 70 Chinese enterprises in Poland, according to available statistical data, with total investment amounted to US$2.27 billion. Chinese banks have set up branches and have injected US$1 billion into Polish economy. Our capitals are linked by daily direct flights. Poland is final destination or a transit country for 20% of all China Railway Express freight trains. Moreover, the port of Gdansk has been designated as the distribution centre of the Baltic Sea by COSCO. Every week, 19,000 TEU freighter crosses the route between the Port of Gdansk and the Far East. Meanwhile, China-Poland agreement on mutual recognition of diplomas and degrees of higher education gave new impetus to the development of student exchange. Also, incessantly grows a number of Chinese tourists in Poland, from 70,000 in 2016, to 140,000 in 2017, and 180,000 in 2018. Also, we have enriched our cultural exchange and deepened regional cooperation.
I am sure that under the framework of BRI our joint efforts will lead to more possibilities for cooperation, complementarity, and mutual benefits.
Could you please introduce the background of the 2nd Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation held in Beijing in April?
Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) is the highest-tier platform for the international cooperation under the “Belt and Road” framework. “Belt and Road Cooperation, Shaping a Brighter Shared Future” is the main theme of this Forum which consists of opening ceremony, countries leaders’ round table summit, high-level meetings, specialized sub-forums, and the entrepreneurs’ conference. Nearly 5000 foreign guests from more than 150 countries and 90 international organizations attent this event.
On April 26, President Xi Jinping in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second BRF emphasized that the joint construction of the BRI has brought new opportunities for the development of all countries in the world and unlocked a whole new realm for China's open development. President Xi underlined that to advance the BRI in the direction of high-quality development we should upheld the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, adhere to the open, green and clean approach and strive to achieve high-standard, livelihood-improving and sustainable development. President Xi’s speech was met with great interest and positive response from the international community.
This Forum is significant in 4 aspects. First – clear direction. The main message of the Forum is promotion of the joint construction of the BRI for high-quality development and providing an answer to aspirations of countries participating in this initiative.
Second – solid foundation. For the last six years, since the BRI has been put forward, its achievements are remarkable. China and other BRI countries’ total trade volume amounted to over US$6 trillion, investments exceed US$80 billion, and 82 overseas cooperation zones have created nearly 300,000 jobs for local workers.
Third – practical arrangement. This Forum is divided into varioius sub-forums, which focus on practical cooperation such as: Clean BRI, Digital BRI, Green BRI, Innovation, local cooperation, and oversea economic and trade cooperation zones. For the first time the Forum set up the Entrepreneur Conference which is to serve as platform for cooperation and integration of business circles of all countries.
Fourth – tangible results. The Forum has achieved rich outcome, including series of intergovernmental cooperation agreements, as well as a large number of investment and financing practical cooperation projects carried out by enterprises and financial institutions of various countries.
We believe that this Forum provides all parties good platform to summarize past experiences, discuss future plans, build on consensus, and effectively advance the international cooperation under the BRI towards high-quality development.
The latest news from the market is that China Aviation Supplies Holding has ordered 290 airplanes from Airbus. This is a huge and important contract, especially for France but also other Western European countries. Can we expect such a big purchase or contract for companies from our region?
Chinese market is an open one, the annual value of total retail sales of consumer goods exceeds US$5 trillion and the total value of imports amounted to approximately US$2 billion. Companies from Poland and other countries all over the world will certainly find many business opportunities in China. More than 80 Polish companies (the highest number from CEE countries) took part in the last year’s First China International Import Expo (CIIE) getting satisfying results. As the CIIE is to be held every year we encourage more Polish companies to join in and introduce more high-quality products to the Chinese market.
Polish small and medium-sized enterprises which are the backbone of Polish economy are mostly focused on European market so they may not be very familiar with the non-European business environment. I would suggest Polish government, trade promotion agencies and industry organizations should play a much more active role and create new channels of communication for Chinese and Polish businesses. I believe that with the Polish enterprises’ market development efforts, Polish brands will be better recognized by Chinese consumers and more Polish goods will enter China’s market.
What kind of Chinese companies are investing in Poland?
According to available statistical data, the total value of Chinese investments in Poland reached US$2.27 billion. It is worth noting that the investments field continues to expand, and apart from traditional sectors which continue to thrive, such as machinery manufacturing, food processing, transportation, information and communications technology and information communication, also on the rise are new areas, such as high-tech R&D, lithium batteries production, greenfield investments in new technology and new energy sources.
Chinese investors manage their business in full accordance with the Polish law, create new workplaces, support sustainable growth and the industrial upgrading of Polish companies, fulfill their social responsibilities, not only realizing their own development goal but also contributing greatly to local economy and society.
Some Polish businessmen produce high-tech products in China and then import them under their own brands to Europe. Do you already see Polish businesses which do more?
According to statistical data by Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, until the end of 2018 Polish companies invested in China US$220 million, most of which focuses in industrial sector. China is a unique place that keeps attracting foreign investors, so I welcome more Polish companies to do business in China.
The Fifth Generation (5G) Mobile Technology is necessary for the economy to grow. How can Chinese know-how help to develop this technology in Poland? How can we break some barriers to our cooperation?
5G technology is vital for raising productivity in the industrial sector as well as promoting social development and economic growth. China has already set up a complex telecommunications network, currently engages in the most advanced R&D and has produced leading telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics manufacturers like Huawei. As far as I know, in some countries Huawei has already established Joint Innovation Centers in order to better explore the commercial use of 5G technology. They provide research platforms for local enterprises, preparing markets for this technology and creating necessary conditions for future development of the entire 5G environment. I believe that as long as we adhere to the principles of free competition, create just, fair and nondiscriminatory business environment for the Chinese companies, the enterprises from both our countries can effectively cooperate in the 5G realm.
Other areas of cooperation
China is a big power in the world, Poland is an important player in the CEE region – we both have a similar challenge of making our industries “greener”. What does China do for ecology in collaboration with European partners? What kind of projects can we carry out together?
Cooperation in the field of environment protection is an important part of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership with a series of important documents on cooperation signed. Last year in December China actively participated in and fully supported Poland's role as chairman of the COP24 organized in Katowice. In April this year Joint statement of the 21st EU-China summit reaffirmed the resolve of the two sides to further strengthen cooperation in the areas of addressing climate change and clean energy.
For Poland and China there are many new possibilities for cooperation in the field of environment protection. The technology of wastewater treatment, waste management, and remediation of contaminated sites in Poland is advanced. On the other hand China has vast experience in the fields of renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy-efficient appliances and green construction. At the technical and corporate level our countries pragmatic cooperation can be even closer and wider, for example, in the development of geothermal energy resources and joint research on clean energy technologies.
What do you think about promoting cooperation in culture and education between Poland and China? How many students come from China to Poland on exchange programs?
In recent years, China-Poland people-to-people exchanges have become increasingly intense. About 1,500 Chinese students currently study in Poland and more than 2,100 Polish students learn in China. There are 14 colleges and universities that teach Polish in China. At the same time, there are 5 Confucius Institutes and 2 Confucius Classrooms in Poland with three more Confucius Classrooms at the Warsaw University of Technology and University of Silesia and etc. to be opened this year. Moreover, 26 universities from our countries have established the “Belt and Road” China-Poland University Alliance – new platform for international talent development, sci-tech collaborative innovation and people-to-people exchanges. In addition, we observe stable growth in the number of cultural exchange events with their form and content being continuously enriched. I am convinced that with the deepening of our efforts in the fields of culture and education the mutual understanding and the communication between our peoples will grow, giving much support to our cooperation in various fields.
We Poles have already discovered China as a tourist region and we often visit this beautiful country but we still would love to see more tourists from China in here. Do you see any possibilities to support this direction of traveling? What places in Poland would you recommend to Chinese people? What should we see in China?
For the last few years the number of Chinese tourists in Poland is steadily growing. I often see groups of Chinese sightseers taking pictures in front of the Embassy. There are many of them in touristic cities such as Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Wroclaw, but there are also other historic sites worth seeing, for example Poznan, the Copernicus’ city Torun, or the ski resort Zakopane. With the stable development of our bilateral relations, exchanges between our peoples will become more frequent. Polish tour operators and related management departments, with continuous improvement of their services, creation of even safer and more convenient tourism environment, will be able to attract more Chinese tourists.
China's old civilization, rich and diverse natural and cultural landscapes as well as rapid changes attract more and more Polish tourists. There are countless places to visit, each showing different aspect of China: urban bustling in Beijing and Shanghai, the tranquility of ancient towns of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Dali, beautiful mountains and rivers of Guilin, vast grasslands surrounding Hulin Buir, sunny beaches on Hainan Island, ice and snow world in Harbin, foundations of Chinese civilization in Xi'an and Shenzhen's innovative vitality. We will be happy to welcome guests from Poland to visit China, and see China through their own eyes.