Belgian Prime Minister Herman De Croo and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib paid an official visit to China on January 11 and 12. They were received and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs were accompanied by a delegation of businesspeople – including Mr. Philip Eyskens, Vice Chairman of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce and Chief Legal & Compliance Officer of Bekaert. A group of about 25 journalists from Belgian media also traveled to Beijing.
President Xi Jinping emphasized the need for China and the EU to “build more bridges to ensure the steady progress of bilateral ties. Xi said bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results and benefited the two peoples since the establishment of diplomatic ties 53 years ago. China and Belgium are both beneficiaries of economic globalization and share common interests in resisting protectionism and safeguarding free trade. China welcomes Belgian companies to invest in China, and stands ready to provide them with a sound business environment, President Xi told Premier De Croo. Xi said the two sides can combine their respective strengths to expand cooperation in traditional areas such as transportation, logistics and biopharmaceuticals, and explore new growth areas for cooperation such as green development and digital economy, the Global Times reports.
On January 11 in the afternoon, De Croo, Lahbib and Wang Yi were present at the inauguration of the new building of the Belgian Embassy in Beijing. Prime Minister De Croo emphasized it was “the start of a new era of Belgian-Chinese engagement based on strong people-to-people ties, diplomatic partnerships and mutual prosperity”. In her speech, Minister Lahbib mentioned the naming of three areas in the Embassy: the Qian Xiuling Hall was named after Mrs. Qian Xiuling who during World War II saved more than 100 Belgians from execution by the Nazis; another room named Ferdinand Verbiest Hall; and the Tian Bao Courtyard, named for a panda born at Pairi Daiza in Belgium.
The delegation also met the Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, Jens Eskelund, who told them that the Chinese economy was slowing and the time that everybody could reap some benefits from coming to China was past. Concerning the EU-strategy of “de-risking”, Eskelund said that China was doing this already for the past 20 years.
Chinese Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Cao Zhongming mentioned in an exclusive interview with the Global Times that in post-Covid 2023 bilateral cooperation expanded “in Belgium's export of agricultural and food products to China, civil aviation services, green development, and climate change after over 80 Chinese delegations visited Belgium”.
China reopened its pork market for imports of Belgian pork feet, ears and snouts, which are discarded in Belgium for use in animal feed, but can fetch higher prices in China as valued delicacies. The imports had been suspended after cases of African swine fever emerged in Wallonia in 2019 and had not resumed since. Direct flights between Shanghai and Brussels will also resume in June.
