Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo will pay an official visit to China from Jan 25 to 28 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
During Orpo's visit to China, President Xi Jinping will meet with him. Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, will respectively hold talks and meet with him, and have in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, the spokesman said.
"Finland was one of the first western countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. In recent years, under the guidance of the heads of state of the two countries, the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership between China and Finland has been continuously deepened, and practical cooperation in various fields has been steadily advanced. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Finland relations and is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Finland, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen economic and trade cooperation, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and coordination in multilateral affairs, and jointly push China-Finland relations to a new level," Guo said.
Finnish PM to visit China
The promotional video of the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Gala made its debut on Jan 18 at the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL), attracting widespread attention in Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was a highly anticipated match between Borussia Düsseldorf, a club having won the Bundesliga championship for many times, and Fulda-Maberzell, the runner-up of the 2026 German Cup final.
The promotional video was played on a loop during the intense match, creating festive atmosphere in the venue.
"The Spring Festival is an important and happy time. It is a special day for Chinese people all over the world. People like to get together to watch TV and enjoy this moment. I heard from my parents that there is a very famous program called the Spring Festival Gala, which attracts hundreds of millions of viewers every year. I will remind my friends to watch it and I'm also looking forward to seeing it this year," said Qiu Dang, a German-Chinese table tennis player.
"The Chinese Spring Festival Gala is a grand festival feast and is also very important in Germany and Europe. I'm really looking forward to the gala and hope to enter the Year of the Horse together with my Chinese friends," said Johannes Hodes, deputy manager of Fulda-Maberzell.
Andreas Preuss, manager of Borussia Düsseldorf, said that he has made many Chinese friends in both work and life. Sports, especially table tennis, can effectively bring people from different countries closer together and deepen the friendship between the Chinese and German people, according to him.
"Sports bring people together, especially table tennis. We call it table tennis because to enjoy its fun, both sides need to participate, one stands for China and the other Germany. I sincerely wish for world peace and especially extend my most heartfelt new year's greetings to the Chinese people. Happy Year of the Horse. May the friendship between Germany and China last forever," he said.
"To all the Chinese people, especially the table tennis fans, I wish you all the best for the new year. Happy Spring Festival. Hopefully the new year will be a good one for all of you," said Timo Boll, a German table tennis veteran.
"I wish all my Chinese friends a happy year of the Horse!" said Hodes.
Known as "Chunwan" in Chinese, the gala has been broadcast live annually since 1983 and is regarded as a major cultural symbol for the Chinese New Year celebrations in China. This year's gala will air on Feb 16, the eve of the Chinese New Year.
The gala has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program worldwide. Just over a year ago, the Spring Festival itself was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
CMG 2026 Spring Festival Gala promo debuts in Germany's Bundesliga
