September the 7th, 2024 – 32 years of successful Chinese-Croatian relations were recently celebrated at the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PRC was celebrated in Zagreb.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PRC was recently held in Zagreb’s Westin hotel, with the reception being led by Ambassador Qi Qianjin. Along with numerous high-ranking guests, the ceremony was also witnessed by Vice-President of the Croatian Parliament, Željko Reiner, and Chinese-Croatian relations were discussed.
china’s transformation
From the founding of the People’s Republic of China 75 years ago to 2023, the per capita disposable income of Chinese people has increased an astonishing 789 times, with more than 800 million people having been lifted out of poverty. In the first half of this year, the Chinese economy maintained a growth rate of 5% and contributed more than 30% to global economic growth. China’s industry has transformed into a “new” and “green” industry, with installed wind farm capacity, photovoltaic power generation capacity, and the production of new energy vehicles.
Since its founding 75 years ago, the People’s Republic of China has continuously progressed and developed, and the fundamental reason is constant improvement and opening up to the rest of the world. At the same time, China, like many other countries, is currently facing negative impacts from the internal and external environment, including the problems of weak consumption and an ageing population.
In July of this year, under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held, where the “Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and Promoting Chinese-Style Modernisation” was considered and adopted. That proposes the introduction of more than 300 important reform measures to provide a strong impetus for modernisation.
Among them, the reform of the economic system remains key point, and the current proposals are to properly resolve the fundamental issue of the relationship between the government and the market, and build a socialist market economic system. All regions of China are primarily focused on the development of new drivers of economic growth, including the development of new energy, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, bio-medicine and other things. New energy vehicles are also an important direction in the development of a brand new economic momentum for China.
“The reform measures proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China not only provide a strong impetus and firm guarantee for China’s development, but also increase confidence in global development, create more development opportunities for all countries, and ensure a larger market for all countries. China will therefore adhere to the path of peaceful development and the basic national policy of opening up to the world. It will also proactively comply with the high standards of economic and trade rules, it will continue to open the domestic market to foreign investment, and guarantee national treatment and protection of the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investments,” the ambassador stated at the anniversary of the founding of the PRC’s celebration in Zagreb.
chinese-croatian relations
He continued by stating the relationship between Croatia and China has become a model of friendship and cooperation between countries of different sizes, with very different populations and different social systems. The leaders of both Croatia and China have often exchanged letters, raising the flag and pushing for the development of bilateral relations. Additionally, last year, trade between the two countries exceeded 2.5 billion USD, which is an increase of 5.2% compared to 2022.
In the two years since the Pelješac Bridge was put into function, about 5 million vehicles have passed over it, which has improved local economic and social development. The Senj wind farm, Huawei and Xiaomi all achieved good results, as did the Vučevica road connection project, which was successfully put into operation. On top of all of that, projects such as the waste water treatment plant project in Rijeka have also made new progress.
It is expected that a contract will be concluded on the export of Croatian high-quality agricultural and food products such as honey and tuna to China, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Croatia is constantly increasing. The fifth joint Chinese-Croatian police patrol has now also been successfully completed, which effectively improved the tourist experience of tourists from various countries worldwide.
