Overseas Chinese Committee gets Rosthorn Medal

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-18 15:41

VIENNA -- President of the Austrian National Council, Babara Prammer, awarded the Rosthorn Medal to the Overseas Chinese Committee of Austria-China Association on Tuesday, in recognition of its contributions on promoting the cooperation between Austria and China.

She praised the Committee for its many years' contributions on promoting the mutual understanding and exchanges between both countries.

Gerd Kaminski, both President of the Austria-China Association and Zhang Weiqing, President of the Overseas Chinese Committee, said that this honor was a great recognition of the Austrian senior authorities.

Wu Ken, Chinese Ambassador to Austria and Susanna Neuwirth, Deputy President of the Austrian Federal Council, also attended the award ceremony.

Rosthorn Medal is named after the former Austrian Envoy to China, Arthur von Rosthorn (1862-1945). Rosthorn was once the Envoy of Austrian-Hungarian Empire to the Qing Imperial in 1900 and was the only foreign Envoy who officially opposed the suppression of the Eight Power Allied Forces.

Austria set up this reward under his name, in order to recognize people and institutions who made special contribution to the bilateral relationship between Austria and China. The Committee is the third institution which gained this special honor.