At the invitation of Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and His Royal Highness Prince Consort Henrik will begin a five-day state visit to China. This will be the second time for the Danish Queen to step onto Chinese soil since her first visit 35 years ago.

In September 1979, Queen Margrethe II made her first official friendly visit to China when this country had just initiated reform and opening-up. The visit took place at a most special time and was of profound historical significance, as it made her the first Head of State from a Western nation to visit China since the reform and opening-up policy was adopted in 1978.

China has witnessed tremendous changes over the past 35 years of reform and opening-up. With its national economy growing rapidly, China now has become the world’s second largest economy and the biggest foreign exchange reserves holder, and ranks first in terms of trade in goods - all of which are often regarded as a new miracle in the history of human economic development. Its infrastructure construction has undergone rocketing development; its highways and high-speed railways have radiated in all directions; its informatization has been constantly deepened; its people have been living an increasingly more convenient and comfortable life. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, and China has successfully transformed from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country. Consumption has been continuously growing in scope. Beijing and Shanghai were among the cities Her Majesty visited 35 years ago, and this time she will pay a revisit. I believe she will have many pleasant memories.

It is a good coincidence that the upcoming visit of Her Majesty to China takes place at a time of similarly special significance. In November 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was successfully concluded, where the important decision was adopted to comprehensively deepen the reform. There came up quite a number of new ideas such as letting the market play a decisive role in allocating resources, and to modernize the government systems and governance capabilities. More than 330 major reform measures were formulated pertaining to 15 major issues, such as how to accelerate the improvement of the modern market system, how to transform government functions, how to further develop an open economy, how to promote an integrated development of urban and rural areas, how to make ecological progressand how to strengthen the socialist democratic political system. China’s reform and opening-up process has thus ushered in a new chapter. This country will enjoy more efficient, more equitable and more sustainable development in the future and will take on new looks at an even larger scale.