Opening Remarks of Ambassador Tan Jian at the Royal IGC Event
(12 September, 2022)
Excellency Arthur Van Dijk, King’s Commissioner of North Holland,
Ms. Xu Xiaojia, chairwoman of the China-table Committee of Royal IGC,
Members of Royal IGC,
Friends from the government and business community,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening!
It is my great pleasure to attend this event. My sincere thanks to the Royal IGC and Ms Xu for the organization and invitation.
This year is special. It marks the 50th anniversary of setting up diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between our two countries.
Today is also special. We Chinese have been enjoying the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival starting from last Saturday.
The festival has a history of over 3,000 years. On these festive days, the moon is full and complete, which could mean perfect.
The Chinese word for “perfection” has two characters: round and full. It is not just the silver line of a cloud, it is a silver plate.
A big and bright moon, hanging above in the night sky -- it is beautiful.
After hot summer days, now the autumn night -- it is cool.
The Festival is also a time for family reunion. This autumn day is also the time of harvest -- it is rewarding and joyful.
To all friends here, a very happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
Ladies and gentlemen,
I came to the Netherlands on 25 December 2020.
This was the first time I set foot on this land.
So, allow me to share with you some of my impressions.
It is a country with global footage, from North to South America, from Oceania, to Asia, to South Africa.
It has made great contribution to arts, philosophy, science and technology, international law, etc. to the world.
It is a champion in international development cooperation and environment protection.
It outperformed many other European countries at the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, and the Beijing Winter Olympics this year.
On the economic side, the Dutch business people have showcased their talent in commerce and innovation, their perseverance in the face of difficulty. The history of the Royal IGC reflects the enterprising spirits of Dutch companies.
The Netherlands has a lot of world renowned big brand companies, innovative small-and-medium-sized enterprises and start-ups, many of which are global brands, and super-competitive.
It is a near one trillion dollar GDP economy. It is a power in trade & investment.
The Netherlands is small yet beautiful and powerful.
It is much larger than its size would suggest.
Dear friends,
This year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of our relations.
Time to look back and look forward.
In the past 50 years, our trade volume has grown nearly 1,700 times, from less than 69 million in 1972 to over 116 billion US$ in 2021.
I bet for the Netherlands this record may remain unbroken forever.
In 2020, our bilateral trade grew by 7.8%; last year, up by 27%. Quite an accomplishment, especially against all odds of the pandemic.
We are each other’s large trading partners and investments destinations.
It is a great honour and heavy responsibility to serve as ambassador of China to the Netherlands.
I have been working hard.
I have very good relations with the business, they are friendly.
I have good working relations with the government, especially the Administrative branch, they are rational and professional.
But I have difficulties with the parliament, media and sometimes academia.
Yes, there are many challenges, here let me mention two.
The first major one is geopolitics. I have the feeling that I am often fighting indirectly with the superpower, who sees China as an imaginary enemy.
I sincerely hope there will be no new cold war.
The second major one is the negative media report.
We are open to equal-footed and fact-based dialogues on issues like human rights.
Sadly, there is near-zero positive coverage about China.
No positive developments in China? Just an example. On 12 August, China handed over to the International Labour Organization the instruments of ratification of the two conventions on the prohibition of forced labour, a promise by China in the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with the EU.
Little coverage about this piece of news, let alone appreciation.
Yet I am optimistic.
We need each other.
Our trade growth during the Covid time is testament to the resilience, the potential and business entrepreneurship of our economic cooperation.
As the most populous country, with a per capita GDP of US$ 12,000, a middle-income group as strong as 400 million, annual importation of goods and services standing at 2.5 trillion US$, China is the largest developing market in the world.
China will deepen and widen our reform and opening up, and share development opportunities with the rest of the world.
China and the Netherlands are both for globalization, multilateralism.
What is more, there is no fundamental conflict of interest.
To conclude, I wish to say that, our relationship is far from reaching its fullness. There exists huge potentials.
Let’s join hands to move our relations forward and expand our cooperation -- like the waxing moon.
Thank you.