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Wen ends Portugal visit, leaving for Malaysia
(China Daily/Agencis)
Updated: 2005-12-10 06:34
The elevation of Portugal to the level of strategic partner, a preferential
diplomatic and commercial status, signals the growing importance of the country
to Beijing, observers said.
Britain, France, Germany and Spain are the only other European nations which
have been awarded the status by Beijing.
"The establishment of strategic partnership marks the lifting of bilateral
relations to a new level," Zhao Jun, director of the Department of European
Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said earlier at a news conference in Beijing.
Following their talks on Friday evening, Wen and Socrates also oversaw the
signing of a dozen bilateral agreements in the areas of health, justice, foreign
investment, technology, education and culture.
Wen flew here on Friday afternoon for a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese
premier since 1992. Portugal was the fourth leg of his five-nation European and
Asian tour, which also includes stops in France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic
and Malaysia.
Joao de Deus Ramos, a former Portuguese diplomat to China and the head of the
Fundacao Oriente, a research centre that focuses on Lisbon's ties to Asia, said
China sees Portugal as a drawbridge to the Portuguese-speaking world.
Portugal's commercial relations with China are relatively small but growing.
Trade between the two nations has totalled US$1 billion so far this year, up
from US$869 million for all of 2004.
Many Portuguese firms are seeking to tap into growing consumer demand for
goods and services in China, often by using Macao, which Lisbon handed back to
Beijing in 1999 after 400 years of colonial rule, as an entry point.
Last year Portugal Telecom announced it planned to use its holdings in Macao
to expand into the fast-growing Chinese mainland market, while earlier this year
Corticeira Amorim, the world's largest maker of cork products, said it was
looking for a partner in China to set up a
factory.
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