On the 29th of April, our team had the opportunity to have a profound discussion

With the Ambassador on current topics in the Chinese Embassy.

How long have you been working in Prague, and which countries did you serve in before coming here?

Time flies. From when I first assumed office in October 2022, I’ve been working in Prague for almost two and a half years. Before this post, I worked in the Middle East for quite a long time, most of it in Syria, including serving as the Chinese Ambassador to Syria.

What places have you visited in the Czech Republic?

Since my assumption of office, I’ve visited many places across the Czech Republic for work as well as personal purposes, including such scenic places as Český Krumlov and Karlovy Vary that Chinese tourists frequently visit.   The Czech Republic is indeed a country with beautiful natural scenery, rich cultural landscapes, and pleasant climatic conditions.

What is your favorite place in Prague?

As the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague is also a world-renowned tourist destination. Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, and others are loved by tourists all over the world. Indeed, Prague lives up to its reputation. Prague is also the capital of culture and art, and many celebrities like Antonín Dvořák, Alfons Mucha, and Milan Kundera left their marks here. I also enjoy walking along the Vltava River.

What are the main topics between China and the Czech Republic?

As the Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic, my main responsibility is to do my utmost to promote friendship and cooperation between the two countries and to facilitate the sound and stable development of bilateral relations. Firstly, bilateral exchanges at various levels have been resumed, including meetings between the foreign ministers on multilateral occasions and regular meetings within the framework of the Joint Economic Commission. Secondly, practical economic and trade cooperation has been advanced, including the resumption of direct flights, organizing economic and trade promotion activities, and expanding Czech exports to China. Thirdly, people-to-people relations have been deepened, and concerts, film festivals, and other cultural activities have been held in each other’s countries.

It is worth mentioning that the one-China principle is the political foundation for China and the Czech Republic to establish and develop diplomatic relations. Since I first set foot in the Czech Republic, I have always endeavored to promote the Czech side to abide by its one-China political commitment and create a favourable atmosphere for the development of bilateral relations.

In short, the Chinese side regards the Czech Republic as an important cooperation partner and stands ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Czech side in all fields on the basis of mutual respect, equal treatment, and mutual benefit, so as to better serve the interests of both countries and peoples.

What are the main economic and trade exchanges between China and the Czech Republic?

Over more than 75 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Czech Republic, bilateral economic and trade cooperation has developed continually, bringing huge benefits to both countries and peoples. China has become the Czech Republic’s largest trading partner outside the EU. According to the statistics of the Czech side, the bilateral trade volume reached USD 43 billion (about CZK 980 billion) in 2024. The Chinese investment in the Czech Republic amounts to about USD 1.7 billion (about CZK 39 billion), and there are more than 50 Chinese-funded enterprises, covering fields from automobiles, machinery, household appliances, chemicals, to information technology and e-commerce. Recently, Chinese automakers Chery and BYD launched car sales in the Czech Republic.

China is also a major source of tourists to the Czech Republic. In 2018, before the outbreak of the epidemic, the Czech side hosted more than 620 thousand Chinese tourists. In 2024, the number of Chinese tourists exceeded 170 thousand, increasing by 94% year on year.

How have historical traditions influenced the development of Chinese society? Can you give us some examples?

The Chinese civilisation is one of the world’s four great ancient civilisations, and the Chinese nation has a history of more than 5,000 years. Also, the Chinese civilization is the only one in the world that has continued uninterrupted to this day. President Xi Jinping stresses that, to open up and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics based on the profound Chinese civilisation of more than 5,000 years, the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s concrete realities and with China’s fine traditional culture is the path we must take. President Xi also points out that, “without the 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization, where would these Chinese characteristics come from? If it wasn’t for these characteristics, how could we have today’s successful path of socialism with Chinese characteristics?” By these important remarks, we can tell that historical traditions still exert a profound influence on Chinese society.

I would like to make it particularly clear that the Chinese nation has learned valuable lessons from history, including that national unity is the prerequisite for national prosperity and development, while secession invariably brings disaster to the people. The Chinese nation always holds the common belief that the homeland cannot be divided, the country cannot be destabilized, its ethnic groups cannot be separated, and its civilization cannot be disrupted, and national unity will always be at the core of China’s core interests. The Chinese people’s deep sense of family and country and deep historical consciousness have provided solid popular support for the Chinese nation to maintain great unity and become a powerful inner drive for the Chinese nation’s rejuvenation in spite of difficulties and dangers.

China has long attracted Western investors with advantages such as low labor costs. In 2025, what other favorable conditions will China have to attract foreign investment?

Not long ago, President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community and gave a comprehensive elaboration on foreign investment in China.

President Xi Jinping spoke positively of the important role played by foreign investment in China in boosting China’s development, including driving China’s economic growth and employment, accounting for one-third of China’s total imports and exports, one-quarter of its industrial added value and one-seventh of its tax revenues, and creating over 30 million jobs. President Xi emphasized that foreign businesses are important participants in the Chinese modernization drive, in the country’s reform and opening up and innovation, and in its inter-connectivity with the world and integration into economic globalization.

President Xi pointed out that China has been a major contributor to and anchor of stability for global growth for many years. On a Chinese path to modernization in all respects, China offers a vast stage for business development, vast market prospects, stable policy outlook, and a secure environment, making it a favored choice for foreign investment and business operations.

President Xi also emphasized that, committed to the fundamental national policy of opening up to the world, China is taking solid steps to expand institutional opening up, such as that of rules, regulations, management and standards, and China’s policy of welcoming foreign investment has not changed and will not change;that having the world’s second largest consumer market and largest middle-income group, China offers great potential for investment and consumption;that China is accelerating green, digital and smart transformation, which, coupled with the country’s sophisticated industrial ecosystem, provides the best testing ground for the latest outcomes of technological revolution and industrial upgrading; that China has developed sound regulations, policies and procedures for foreign investment, and made active efforts to foster a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized; that China has stepped up its efforts to offer a transparent, stable and predictable policy environment for foreign investment, and has substantially widened market access for foreign investment and abolished all access restrictions in the manufacturing sector; and that China enjoys long-standing political and social stability, widely recognized as one of the safest countries in the world.

As President Xi Jinping has said, China has been and will remain an ideal, secure, and promising destination for foreign investors. Embracing China is embracing opportunities, believing in China is believing in a better tomorrow, and investing in China is investing in the future.

What are the main reasons for the increasing number of Chinese enterprises investing abroad?  

Over the years, the scale of Chinese outbound investment has been one of the largest in the world. According to statistics, in 2024, China’s industry-wide outbound direct investment amounted to USD162.78 billion (about CZK3.74 trillion koruna), a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. Among them, Chinese domestic investors made non-financial direct investments in a total of 9400 overseas enterprises in 151 countries and regions globally, with a cumulative investment of USD143.85 billion (about CZK3.3 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 10.5 %.

The mutually beneficial and win-win effect of China’s outward investment is remarkable, and its contribution to the world economy is becoming ever more prominent. According to statistics, in 2023, outward investment drove China’s import and export of goods by USD273.1 billion (about CZK6.27 trillion), with an increase of 6.4%, accounting for 4.6% of China’s total import and export of goods during the same period, while overseas Chinese enterprises realized sales revenues of USD3.5 trillion (about CZK80.4 trillion), paid taxes of USD75.3 billion  (about CZK1.73 trillion) to the places they invested. At the end of the year 2023, the total number of employees of overseas Chinese enterprises was nearly 4.3 million, of which 60% were local employees. In 2024, the non-financial direct investment of Chinese enterprises in the countries that joined the Belt and Road cooperation amounted to USD33.69 billion (about CZK774 billion), with a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, which demonstrates that China has continued to deepen practical cooperation with these countries.

At present, Chinese enterprises have accelerated investment in overseas markets. Some of them proactively meet the needs of the economic development stage and industrial transformation and upgrading, while others respond to the complex and turbulent international situation. For the enterprises themselves, by expanding overseas markets, participating in international competition and cooperation, and utilizing global resources, they can create more profits and reduce the risks of operating and developing in a single market, promoting themselves to become bigger and stronger. For the Chinese economy, the fact that Chinese enterprises choose to develop globally and give full play to both domestic and foreign markets and resources will contribute to the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy and high-quality development, and better serve the new development pattern. For the world economy, it will also help stabilize the global supply chain and inject new vitality into the world economy.

Many Westerners accuse China of not respecting patents and trademarks. What are your comments?

China’s intellectual property system was established and developed along with China’s reform and opening up. It is both an outcome of and an important support to the reform and opening up. Since the 1980s, China has established a relatively complete legal system for intellectual property rights (IPR) in line with the internationally accepted rules, and has continuously revised and improved it in the course of practice. In recent years, the newly enacted Civil Code of China has defined major legal principles for the protection of IPR and the Patent Law, Trademark Law, Copyright Law have been amended to establish a punitive system for infringement of IPR that meets high international standard; all these have provided a strong legal guarantee for China’s strict protection of IPR. China has also set up specialized IPR courts and tribunals, and has acceded to almost all major international conventions in the field of IPR and actively fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations. In 2024, China’s social satisfaction with IPR protection increased to a record high of 82.36 points. It can be said that China’s IPR cause has realized a historic leap.

China resolutely punishes infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of foreign businesses, especially those of their IPR, by the law, and treats the IPR of domestic and foreign enterprises equally and protects them equally. More than 5000 foreign-funded and joint-venture enterprises have filed with China’s national-level IPR protection centers and rapid rights protection centers. As of June 2024, the number of valid foreign invention patents in China and the number of valid registered trademarks in China had reached 919,000 and 2.135 million, respectively.

It is worth mentioning that science and technology innovation is the core driver of China’s economic transformation and high-quality development. According to preliminary estimates, China’s society-wide research and experimental development (R&D) investment in 2024 exceeded RMB3.6 trillion (about CZK 11.4 trillion), an increase of 8.3% over the previous year; the intensity of R&D investment reached 2.68%. A total of 1.045 million invention patents were authorized in the whole year of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. By the end of 2024, China’s valid domestic invention patents reached 4.756 million, becoming the first country in the world with active patent holdings exceeding 4 million, and China’s average number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 population reached 14. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index (GII) Report 2024, China’s global innovation ranking rose to 11th place, one of the fastest-rising economies in terms of innovation over the past 10 years, and the only middle-income economy among the top 30 economies in the Global Innovation Index. China now has 26 of the world’s top 100 science and technology innovation clusters, ranking first in the world.

What role can China play in maintaining world stability?

Since its establishment in 1949, New China has always been committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and has been firmly pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace. China has never initiated a war, never seized an inch of foreign land, never engaged in an arms race, and never joined military blocs. China is the second largest contributor to the UN’s regular budget and peacekeeping assessment, and also the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In a world where turbulence and change are intertwined, the choices made by countries, especially major countries, will determine the trajectory of our times and shape the future of the world. China will stand firm on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, and will provide certainty to this uncertain world.

China sees it as its solemn duty to defend the authority of the UN and uphold the post-war international order. China has always believed that there is only one international system in the world, i.e. the international system with the United Nations at its core; there is only one international order, i.e. the international order underpinned by international law; and there is only one set of rules, i.e. the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. China is ready to join hands with all countries to safeguard the post-war international order, uphold the authority and status of the United Nations, practice true multilateralism, and encourage all nations to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

On the Ukraine issue, China has always been committed to an early and peaceful resolution of the crisis. At the beginning of the crisis, President Xi Jinping put forth four points on what must be done, i.e. the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be upheld, the legitimate security concerns of all parties must be taken seriously, and all efforts conducive to peace must be supported. Hence, China released its position paper on the crisis, sent its special representative for shuttle diplomacy, and initiated the Group of Friends for Peace at the United Nations together with Brazil and other Global South countries. The development of the situation proved that China’s proposition is objective, impartial, rational, and pragmatic, and represents the prevailing consensus in the international community. China will continue to support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis and is ready to work with the international community, in light of the will of the parties to the conflict, to continue to play its constructive role in resolving the crisis and realizing lasting peace.

In the Middle East, a region with which I am quite familiar, China firmly supports Middle Eastern countries in independently exploring their development paths and solving regional security issues through unity and coordination. In recent years, China has played an important and constructive role in promoting reconciliation in the region and in the political settlement of hotspot issues. For example, in March 2023, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran issued a joint trilateral statement in Beijing, which led to the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran; and in July 2024,14 Palestinian factions signed the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity, which led to a historic reconciliation among them. Since the outbreak of the current round of conflict in Gaza, China has been calling for an early ceasefire and working actively for de-escalation, protection of civilians, and humanitarian assistance.

China always believes that Europe is an important and independent pole in a multi-polar world. China and Europe are two major forces, markets and civilizations in an increasingly multi-polar world, and the choices we make have a huge impact on the world. If we choose dialogue and cooperation, bloc confrontation will not emerge. If we choose peace and stability, a new Cold War will not break out. If we choose openness and win-win, global development and prosperity will have greater hope. China stands ready to strengthen strategic communication with Europe and work together to provide more stability for the world.

How do you view the future of the Taiwan question?

Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times. In 1624, Dutch colonialists invaded and occupied the southern part of Taiwan; in 1662, General Zheng Chenggong, hailed as a Chinese national hero, expelled them from the island. In 1895, due to the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was forced to cede the island of Taiwan to Japan; in September 1945,  following defeat in the Second World War, Japan signed the instrument of surrender, and in October 1945, the Chinese government announced that it resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the recovery of Taiwan.

The present Taiwan question is a legacy of the Chinese civil war. On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded, becoming the successor to the Republic of China (1912-1949), and the Central People’s Government became the only legitimate government of the whole of China. The new government replaced the previous KMT regime in a situation where China, as a subject under international law, did not change and China’s sovereignty and inherent territory did not change. As a natural result, the government of the PRC should enjoy and exercise China’s full sovereignty, which includes its sovereignty over Taiwan. As a result of the continuation of the civil war in China and the interference of external forces, the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have fallen into a state of protracted political confrontation. But the sovereignty and territory of China have never been divided and will never be divided, and Taiwan’s status as part of China’s territory has never changed and will never be allowed to change.

It is worth mentioning that Resolution 2758 was adopted in 1971 by the UN General Assembly with an overwhelming majority. It decides to restore all the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China at the UN and expel forthwith the representatives of the Taiwan authorities from the UN and all the organizations related to it. Once and for all, this resolution resolved the issue of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the UN, and precluded any possibility of creating “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.” The only reference to the Taiwan region in the UN is “Taiwan, Province of China.” Taiwan is never a country, not in the past, and never in the future.

I also want to stress that to clamor for “Taiwan independence” is to split the country, to support “Taiwan independence” is to interfere in China’s internal affairs, and to connive at “Taiwan independence” is to undermine the stability of the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese people are firm in their resolve and have a deep commitment to safeguarding China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. No matter which political party or group is in power in Taiwan, it cannot alter the trend towards national reunification. And China will not flinch under any external interference, and any attempt to exploit Taiwan to contain China is doomed to failure. China must be and will be unified.