55 Years on China-Belgium Diplomatic Ties: Seize the China Opportunity in the Year of the Horse

Credit: Xinhua

The 15th Five-Year Plan fully demonstrates the four major positive trends of China’s future, providing certainty and fresh impetus for global development by the stability and continuity of China’s policies.

China’s economy has shifted from high-speed growth to high-quality development. It is now making every effort to transform its development model, optimise its economic structure and upgrade growth drivers. Over the next five years, China will continue to build a modern industrial system. The added value of core digital economy industries is expected to account for 12.5% of GDP, while carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 17%, with a focus on improving the quality of development.

New growth drivers are emerging, injecting vitality into new sectors. At the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse, a robot martial arts performance captured attention far and wide, showcasing the growing trend of intelligent technologies being put into practical use. At present, the scale of China’s core artificial intelligence industry has exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan (about 150 billion euros) . The adoption rate of AI technologies in China’s manufacturing enterprises with an annual business turnover of more than 2.5 billion euros has surpassed 30%.

China will continue to encourage the large-scale commercial application of intelligent terminals and improve the open-source ecosystem, striving to expand the scale of AI-related industries to over 10 trillion yuan (over 1.2 trillion euros) by the year 2030 at the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan, thereby continuously unleashing new growth momentum in emerging sectors.

Credit:VCG

At present, China has implemented unilateral visa-free policies or mutual visa exemptions with 75 countries. As policy dividends continue to be released, the cross-border flow of people and technologies has become more efficient and convenient. China welcomes more foreign-invested enterprises to increase investment and achieve common development and prosperity.

People’s well-being is improving, bringing a stronger sense of fulfilment and happiness. Ultimately, development is about improving people’s lives. The formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan fully reflects people’s democracy by opening the process to public participation.

More than 3.113 million suggestions were collected, allowing the voices of the people to feed into the country’s grand development blueprint. From fostering employment-friendly development to optimising the allocation of educational resources, from increasing government subsidies for basic medical insurance to improving the urban community-based elderly care service network, a series of practical measures are steadily strengthening the social safety net and enhancing people’s sense of fulfilment, happiness and security.

As China implements the new blueprint of the 15th Five-Year Plan in the years ahead, it will provide Belgium and other countries with more opportunities. As a tech powerhouse and pioneer in the green development of Europe, Belgium has invested and started businesses in China as early as the outset of reform and opening-up and has been a major beneficiary of Chinese modernisation.

Today, some may argue that China’s industrial development has posed serious challenges to Belgian industries. But facts show just the opposite, complementary strengths and mutual benefits are indeed defining features of China-Belgium economic and trade relations.

Stable and steady China-EU trade has been a major contributor to the success of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, being the second largest in Europe. The Volvo Ghent plant, the single largest employer in Flanders, employs approximately 6500 local employees, while Solvay’s net sales share in China has steadily increased for 3 consecutive years. The list of such stories goes on and on, contrary to the fake news about the “China threat”.

Through cooperation with China, Belgium has enhanced its industrial competitiveness and boosted its role as a major logistics hub in land, by air and by road and rail in Europe, connecting the East and the West, the North and the South.

China-Belgium cooperation has also increased Belgian jobs and delivered tangible benefits to the Belgian people. High-quality and innovative products made in China have profoundly enriched market supplies and lowered inflation, benefiting Belgian businesses and consumers alike.

In the past year, trade between China and Belgium totalled over USD 40 billion, and our two countries have nearly 30 direct passenger flights a week connecting our capitals and major cities.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Belgium. 55 years on, both countries are far better off working with each other, rain or shine. Going forward, there is still great potential for bilateral cooperation across the sectors like R&D, education, agriculture, logistics, green transition and connectivity.

In a spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, China will continue to share with Belgium the fruits of Chinese modernisation and its super-scale market of 1.4 billion people, making both of our two nations more prosperous and serving the greater good of the world and humanity.

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