China's local governments reaching out to EU states

The China-Belgium Technology Center, a future hi-tech business center launched in Louvain-la-Neuve in June last year, is the result of a partnership between the Hubei provincial government and the Walloon government in Belgium. And the China Culture Centre in Brussels, in which the Shanghai municipal government is a major player, is strengthening cultural ties between China and the European Union through its activities and programs.

During his visit to the Czech Republic, Yuan Jiajun, governor of Zhejiang province, pushed for a cooperation project with the local government to build a logistics and business park near a major railway station not far away from Prague, while Sichuan province has already inked an agreement to build an industrial zone in the Czech Republic, which is actively participating in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.

These are just some of the projects that are part of the new trend of China's provincial and regional governments taking proactive measures to intensify the country's engagement and cooperation in global projects in recent years.