The uniqueness of bilateral relations between China and Finland lies in the mutual trust established across various fields, including trade, business, and innovation, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Wednesday in Beijing.
Stubb made the remarks during an interview with China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday, while on a state visit to China from Oct 28 to 31 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
During their talks on Tuesday, the two heads of state held in-depth exchanges on key issues concerning bilateral relations and global matters. Reflecting on the discussions, Stubb told CMG that the talks had a good dynamic, with both sides being candid on the topics.
"We spent the better part of three hours together, and we had met twice before when I was Foreign Minister, and the President was Vice President. So we knew each other. And I think we have good dynamics in the conversation. We can now talk very openly about things," he said.
In 2017, the two sides established a future-oriented, new-type cooperative partnership, opening a new chapter in bilateral relations. During Tuesday’s meeting, President Xi emphasized the exceptional value of this partnership, which should be cherished and advanced.
Sharing his perspective on this unique partnership, Stubb underscored the importance for Finland of maintaining good relations with major countries like China and highlighted the mutual benefits of their cooperation in trade, business, and innovation.
"I'm always realistic about these things: China, 1.4 billion people; Finland, 5. 5 million people. So, there's a slight difference of scale here. For a country like Finland, it's important to have good relations with big players, major powers, like China. The uniqueness comes from the fact that I think we can trust each other when we talk about trade, when we talk about business, when we talk about innovation. So that's why I had 25 companies here with me from Finland. We have 250 companies that are established here in china, including for instance, KONE. A lot of Chinese people go up and down with the people flow in elevators and escalators made in Finland or made in China and serviced in China. So there are a lot of good ties on that front. So it's always good when you come to a country, which has such an important role in world politics to learn and live. And that's where the uniqueness comes from. There are no sort of taboos in our relationship which is good," Stubb said.
Stubb sees vast opportunities for collaboration between the two nations in technology and green transformation and looks forward to increased people-to-people exchanges to promote mutual understanding.
"We're talking a lot about tech. We talk about green technology, we talk about green transition. There are some sort of basic industrial policies, so a lot of those things. But I'd also like to stress that we did forge a really good partnership between the 24 universities of applied sciences in Finland and Tsinghua University here in Beijing. I very strongly believe in exchange and understanding. So for instance, on the student side, we have 3,000-4,000 Chinese students in Finland, but we only have 200 to 300 Finnish students in China. So I'm gonna go home and give some recommendations and suggestions. Why don't you go and do an exchange in China?" he said.
Uniqueness of China-Finland bilateral relations comes from mutual trust in various fields: Finnish President
Uniqueness of China-Finland bilateral relations comes from mutual trust in various fields: Finnish President
