China and Switzerland signed a protocol on Friday to upgrade their free trade agreement (FTA), opening a new chapter in bilateral economic and trade relations, according to Chinese commerce minister.
The signing coincided with a visit to China by the President of the Swiss Confederation Guy Parmelin, who led a business delegation to the Ministry of Commerce for talks with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on bilateral trade and the FTA upgrade.
Parmelin's delegation included Swiss trade officials, federal parliamentarians, and business representatives.
During the talks, Wang said that the FTA upgrade reflected the complementary, win-win nature of China-Switzerland cooperation and the two countries' commitment to upholding international trade rules and free trade.
"The formal completion of the China-Switzerland FTA upgrade negotiations is a very important moment. It opens a new chapter for China-Switzerland economic and trade development," Wang said.
He said that China is ready to work with Switzerland to complete the necessary legal procedures and bring the upgraded protocol into force as early as possible, bringing tangible results to businesses and people in both countries.
Parmelin said that China is Switzerland's third-largest trading partner globally and its largest in Asia, and that Switzerland attaches great importance to economic and trade cooperation with China. The upgrade of the Swiss-China FTA will push bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level.
"Against the backdrop of growing uncertainty in international trade, the swift conclusion of these ambitious negotiations sends a strong signal of our shared commitment to open, rules-based trade and the WTO-centered multilateral trading system," said Parmelin.
Under the upgraded FTA arrangements, China and Switzerland will reduce tariffs on key products, expand market access for services trade and investment, upgrade domestic regulation clauses for services trade, and explore the formulation of rules for emerging areas.
China's Ministry of Commerce stated that signing the upgraded protocol is conducive to further expanding market access and promoting two-way investment, bringing more innovation opportunities and development dividends to businesses and people in both countries.
China and Switzerland signed their original FTA in 2013, and the agreement entered into force in July 2014. The two countries launched negotiations to upgrade the agreement in September 2024 and announced their completion in August 2026, after five rounds of talks.
Switzerland is China's seventh-largest trading partner in Europe, while China is Switzerland's largest trading partner in Asia. Bilateral trade reached 49.04 billion U.S. dollars in 2025.
China-Switzerland FTA upgrade opens new chapter in bilateral trade: minister
A Japanese delegation from the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement expressed deep remorse during a visit to the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Wednesday.
The delegation viewed historical materials and physical exhibits documenting crimes committed by Unit 731 during Japan's invasion of China, including the waging of biological warfare, the development of biological weapons, and the conduct of human experiments.
Unit 731, a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base, was established in the Pingfang District of Harbin, and served as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during World War II.
Historical records suggest that between 1940 and 1945, at least 3,000 people were used in human experiments by Unit 731, while more than 300,000 people in China were killed by Japan's biological weapons.
The delegation bowed and repented in front of an apology and anti-war monument.
"Japanese militarism and the Japanese forces invading China brutally massacred the Chinese people like demons. We express our heartfelt apologies for this," said Takakage Fujita, secretary-general of the Association for Inheriting and Propagating the Murayama Statement.
"As a Japanese person, I truly want to express my heartfelt apologies and remorse to the Chinese people who suffered from the demonic and cruel acts of the Japanese forces. At the same time, to ensure that Japan will never again launch such a foolish and wrong war of aggression, we must bring today's experience back to Japan and convey to as many Japanese people as possible, especially the young people, what the Japanese forces actually did in China, and in particular what they did in the Pingfang District of Harbin. I want to pass this on forever," Fujita said.
Hiroshi Hoshino, a member of the delegation, said he was deeply pained by the brutal acts of Japanese forces during their invasion of China.
"This is my first visit here. Coming here this time, I truly came to understand, as a real person with actual feelings, what the Japanese invaders actually did. It was a painful experience that brought me to tears. They did not treat people as human beings, but as experimental materials, or as a means to research how to spread bacteria, killing people as if they were animals. Seeing these specific acts one by one and hearing those testimonies, I truly felt how cruel it was," Hoshino said.
Shigenori Kanehira, a journalist and member of the delegation, emphasized that Japan should acknowledge its wrongdoings as a perpetrator and warned of the risk of forgetting history.
"As perpetrators, we should acknowledge our own wrongdoings. The unwillingness to face this, I believe, is the most serious illness Japan suffers from today. In the early postwar period, Japanese people still had the attitude of trying to confront what they had done. But seeing this attitude gradually disappear and be erased, I feel a sense of crisis both as a journalist, and as a human being," Kanehira said.
Japanese delegation expresses remorse at Unit 731 crime evidence exhibition hall
