King Tupou VI of Tonga concluded a week-long state visit to China on Thursday, marking the end of his first trip to China in seven years and one which has helped strengthen ties between the two sides.
The king's visit culminated in meetings with senior Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang during his trip to Beijing, with both countries pledging to deepen bilateral relations and align their development strategies.
King Tupou VI also embarked on an extensive tour which took him to east China's Fujian Province as well as the northwestern Shaanxi Province, where he learned about China's development experience.
In recent years, bilateral cooperation has expanded across the fields of poverty reduction, climate action, healthcare, and in agriculture and fisheries.
Last Friday, King Tupou VI planted a strain of Juncao -- a Chinese-invented technology using grass to grow mushrooms -- while visiting the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou City.
China has shared this pioneering agricultural technology with over 100 countries, with its use helping to increase local income through low-cost mushroom cultivation and contain desertification by providing a new source of cattle feed.
King Tupou VI also viewed several exhibitions documenting the poverty alleviation efforts which have taken place across Fujian. He said he was impressed by the remarkable progress China has made since his last visit in 2018 and hopes it can help inspire his own nation.
"We have similar problems, parallel problems. My country, some of it still has poverty. So, I see [by] coming here and looking here, also I brought a health minister here, to see maybe we'll learn more," he said.
The king continued his trip on Monday with a visit to the Yangjialing Revolutionary Site in Shaanxi Province's Yan'an City, which served as the headquarters of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee from 1938 to 1947.
"We would like to invite friends from Pacific Island countries to visit Shaanxi, especially Yan'an, to experience China's profound cultural heritage. Another unique advantage of Shaanxi is its revolutionary tradition. Many of China's governing philosophies originated from Yan'an. I believe sharing these ideas with friends from Pacific Island countries will positively contribute to their own development strategies," said Qian Bo, Special Envoy for Pacific Island Countries Affairs of the Chinese Government.
On Tuesday afternoon, King Tupou VI, Queen Nanasipau'u and members of the Tongan delegation visited the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.
One exhibition featured a model of the Chinese naval hospital ship Silk Road Ark, which last month finished a week-long medical service visit in Tonga, where 5,200 outpatient treatments were provided and some 875 surgeries were completed as part of the humanitarian medical service mission dubbed "Mission Harmony 2025."
Tonga's king concludes week-long state visit to China
