Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the reception marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Finland and China in Beijing on 25 May 2010

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I am very happy to attend this special occasion marking the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Finland and the People’s Republic of China.

In 1950, Finland was among the first Western countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China and to establish diplomatic relations with it. Finland was also the first Western country to conclude a long-term bilateral trade agreement with China already in 1953.

The Embassy of Finland in Beijing was opened in 1952. Due to the growing cooperation between our countries especially in the area of trade, Finland has later opened Consulates General in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

During the past decades, the number of high-level visits between the countries has steadily increased. My two respected predecessors President Mauno Koivisto and President Martti Ahtisaari visited China.

I am happy to continue this tradition. I have also pleasant memories of many official and private visits already from the time before I became a president. As President of the Republic, I paid a state visit to China in 2002. My most recent visits to China took place in 2007, when I participated in the World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian, and in 2008, when I attended both the Beijing Olympics and the ASEM Summit. But China is so big that everyone needs many visits in order to get a deeper understanding.

I am very pleased that also Chinese leaders have visited Finland frequently. We were happy to receive President Jiang Zemin on a state visit in 1995. Most recently, Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Finland in June 2009 and Vice President Xi Jinping two months ago. In addition, I met with President Hu Jintao in the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C. last month, and I am very much looking forward to meeting him again during this visit in Beijing.

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In Sino-Finnish relations, economic cooperation and trade have played an important role from the very beginning. In recent years, China has become Finland’s leading trade partner in Asia and our fourth largest partner worldwide. The main sectors in our trade are information and communications technology and forest and paper industries. Environmental technologies are quickly becoming a new priority sector.

The high-level business delegation which is accompanying me on this visit represents key areas of Finnish business life. Their presence underlines the interest of our country to further strengthen co-operation with China.

I am looking forward to tomorrow’s seminar on clean technology here in Beijing. Finland and China share a growing interest in environmentally sound solutions, which will help us reach the goals of sustainable development.

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The growing interaction between China and Finland is also visible in the areas of education, research and culture. Teaching of the Finnish language in Beijing started already in the 1960’s. There has been exchange of students between China and Finland from 1973. Today children in Helsinki can attend a primary school where they learn Chinese language from the 1st grade.

Our cultural exchange has become more and more lively. For example, Chinese New Year is nowadays widely celebrated in Helsinki. This year we will also see two jointly produced Finnish theatre plays here in China. Another example of our creative exchange is the establishment of the “Aalto - Tongji Design Factory” in Shanghai.

From Beijing we will continue to Shanghai, where I will open the Finland Day of the World Expo 2010. I am very pleased that Finland is presenting her achievements in our pavilion called “Giant’s Kettle” – in Finnish “Kirnu” – in Chinese “Binghu”.

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The cooperation between Finland and China has increased rapidly and covers all sectors of society. We have a very good reason to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of our diplomatic relations. I have been told that in the Chinese tradition 60 years marks the end of a period and the beginning of a new one.

I raise my glass for a prosperous new era in the relations between our two countries and for the good health and happiness of our peoples.