China-Portugal ties help enhance cooperation

Sino-Portuguese relations are poised to further tap academic, cultural and other exchanges amid growing East-West cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative, environmental sustainability, anti-pandemic measures and other efforts toward shared development, according to experts.

Close contacts have been established and continuously strengthened in various fields between the two sides, with Portugal also the first European country on the Atlantic coast to sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation on the BRI with China, said Wang Linggui, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Joint research work on green development, ecological protection and climate change as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges to discuss other global issues, such as economic recovery, public health governance and poverty reduction, will help strengthen bilateral cooperation, he said.

Wang was speaking at a global forum themed "The Future of Sino-Portuguese and Sino-European Cooperation" on Tuesday. The forum, part of the consensus reached by the leaders of China and Portugal, is expected to further strengthen bilateral ties.

The online event, hosted by the Bureau of International Cooperation of the CASS, Portugal's University of Coimbra and the Institute of European Studies of the CASS, and organized by the CASS-UC Centre of China Studies, brought together leading academics, diplomats, researchers and educators. More than 20 speakers covered major topics ranging from economics and trade to history, law, public health and climate change.

Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Zhao Bentang said the opportunities for Sino-Portuguese and Sino-European cooperation brought by an environmentally sustainable Silk Road in a post-pandemic world are highly significant, with BRI partnerships and projects already showing strong resilience amid the challenges posed by COVID-19.

China's trade and direct investment in goods with its BRI partners have increased significantly, including the number of China-Europe freight trains and containers, Zhao said.

China became the European Union's biggest trading partner in 2020 with bilateral trade increasing 4.9 percent to $649.5 billion, according to China's General Administration of Customs. Trade between China and Portugal increased 4.82 percent to $6.96 billion last year.

"Green is the bright background of the BRI. Over the years, China has actively advocated and promoted the integration of green, ecological concepts in the joint construction of the BRI to improve policy communication and facilitate connectivity, trade, financing and people-to-people bonds," Zhao said.

"China is willing to work with Portugal and Europe to further strengthen the alignment of their development strategies, deepen cooperation in the field of the green economy, and jointly promote the realization of more sustainable and higher-quality development, which will better benefit the two peoples and contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind."

Longstanding exchanges

Portuguese Ambassador to China Jose Augusto Duarte said China and Portugal have maintained successful exchanges and mutual understanding for five centuries, with the relations based not only on economic and trade cooperation, but also on music, science and culture.

China's development in recent years is precisely the development of openness, maintaining interaction and knowledge exchange with other countries and sharing its development, he said.

Portugal, China and the EU must now cooperate to meet common challenges, including strengthening exchanges in response to climate change and the fight against the pandemic, he said. "China and Europe need to maintain serious, honest and frequent exchanges on different related issues," he said.

Rui Lourido, president of the China Observatory think tank in Portugal, said the country hopes to become a hub for cargo shipments between China, Europe and Africa, leveraging its ocean shipping, especially deepwater ports, as China's gateway to Europe.

To that effect, the Port of Sines is poised for greater cooperation with its Chinese partners and offers major opportunities for Chinese companies aiming to set up business in Europe and tap European markets, added Jose Luis Cacho, president of the Portuguese port's administration.

The deep-water facility boasts major links with China's Shanghai, Ningbo and Yantian ports, and showed "great resilience" amid the pandemic with its cargo volumes rising year-on-year, he said.

China and the EU are "irreplaceable economic and trade partners", said Yao Ling, director and research fellow of the European Institute at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce.

Taking the lead in controlling COVID-19 and restoring economic growth, China has contributed to ensuring the stability of the global industrial and supply chain, and provided support for the EU economy to shake off the impact of the epidemic as soon as possible, she said.

The driving force for the development of China-EU economic and trade relations lies in the fact that both sides regard each other as partners, Yao said.