President vows to advance Sino-Czech relations

President Xi Jinping pledged on Monday to push forward the steady development of relations between China and the Czech Republic, saying that more measures will be unveiled to promote cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

Speaking during a virtual meeting with Czech President Milos Zeman, Xi said the two have held in-depth exchanges on bilateral ties and governance experience during their many meetings and phone conversations over the past decade.

Xi said that the two heads of state also jointly promoted bilateral trade and personnel exchanges, with Czech exports to China nearly doubling and the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Czech Republic increasing by 250 percent between 2013 and 2019.

Xi said China highly values developing Sino-Czech relations and is ready to work with the Czech Republic in advancing bilateral ties to better benefit their peoples.

He called on the two nations to respect each other's core interests and major concerns, strengthen high-quality communication at various levels, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and facilitate people-to-people exchanges.

Noting that China's policy toward the European Union remains stable, Xi expressed his hope that the Czech Republic will continue to actively advance China-CEEC cooperation and promote the sustainable and sound development of China-EU relations.

As China is promoting national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization and continues with high-level opening-up, Xi said it is certain that China will bring new opportunities to all countries, including the Czech Republic.

Zeman said he is ready to work with China in strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, overcoming the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resuming personnel exchanges.

The Czech Republic is willing to play a positive role in promoting the healthy development of EU-China relations, he added.