Europe needs to know China better
“The Hamburg summit: China meets Europe” is running until tonight in Hamburg. Former chancellor Helmut Schmidt said on the first day of the international economic conference: “A lack of knowledge regarding China’s historical achievements is one reason for the lack of respect paid by the West to China.” European readers of newspapers, TV watchers and Internet bloggers were able to understand and assess the huge progress made by China during the past thirty years only if they knew about Chinese history. Schmidt called on both sides, not to look down upon each other, but instead to learn from each other: “There were times, when the Chinese were ahead of the Europeans, and there were times, when the Europeans had an advance – evidently, the intelligence quotient seems to be equally spread on both parts of the earth.”
Frank Horch, Chairman (Präses) of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that the openness to dialogue between China and Europe was essential for their economic and political relations, particularly in times of political turbulence. And Hamburg would offer an excellent platform to that purpose: “We are going to talk about the barriers to market entry on both sides and about how China might be integrated even more into global commerce.” The increasing problems in the fields of the environment, infrastructure and social issues, affecting both China and Europe, would also be focussed on.
The French Minister for Foreign Trade, Anne Marie Idrac, confirmed that France was, during its chairmanship of the European Council, firmly determined to intensify Europe’s commitment in China to the maximum extent possible. “The Chinese market is one of the most competitive markets of the world, but I am confident that it will pay out for European companies to jointly pursue their interests and values there,” Idrac added.
During the opening ceremony, the former French Minister President Michel Rocard received the China Europe Friendship Award for his merits regarding Sino-European relations. On the first day of the economic conference the main speakers were, apart from Rocard and Schmidt, Jiang Yiren, member of the chairmanship of the Chinese industrial association, DFIE, Lucas D. Papademos, Vice President of the European Central Bank, and Sheihka Lubna al Qasimi, Foreign Trade Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
More than 380 guests are participating in the third “Hamburg Summit: China meets Europe”. This forum, which is attended by high-ranking, internationally recognized entrepreneurs, politicians and scientists, is focussing on climate and environmental protection.
(photograph: Helmut Schmidt, on 11 September 2008, at the economic conference “China meets Europe”, press photograph Handelskammer Hamburg).
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