On 13 July, the Chinese embassy hosted an online meeting with students from the Netherlands Asia Honour Summer School. Chinese ambassador Tan Jian delivered opening remarks and answered questions from the students. 

Ambassador Tan's Opening Remarks at the Meeting with the Students From the Netherlands Asia Honour Summer School

(July 13, 2022)

Dear students of the Asia Honour Summer School,

A very good afternoon to you all.

It’s a great pleasure to talk to you. Because you are young, and interested in China and Asia. It is really great to see young people attach importance to China, which boosts my confidence in developing our bilateral relations.

This is the second time that we receive NAHSS students. It was exactly one year ago, 13 July 2021, that we meet with NAHSS students for the first time.

I arrived in the Netherlands on 25 December, 2020. I hadn’t been to this country before.

So, how I see the Netherlands? Let me share with you some of my views.

Good things first.

Over the past year and seven months, I have come to appreciate the greatness of this country.

Its history.

The Netherlands is a country with global footage.

It discovered Australia, New Zealand; set foot in SA, Brazil, established New Amsterdam, later changed its name to New York.

In modern history, the Dutch business people have showcased their talent in commerce and innovation, their perseverance in the face of difficulty.

Its economy.

It is a near one trillion dollar GDP economy.

The Netherlands is a power in trade & investment, a major player in the world economy.

It is full of vitality. It has a lot of world renowned big brand companies, innovative small and medium size enterprises and start-ups, many of which are global brands, and super-competitive. 

And Sports.

At the Tokyo Summer Olympics, you outperformed other EU countries.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics, you did equally well and ranked the 7th in the medal table.

The Netherlands has made great contribution to arts, philosophy, international law, etc. 

The Netherlands is a champion in international development cooperation and environment protection.

I was amazed to see so many people riding bicycles here as a means of transportation.

Its economic relations with China.

This year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of setting up diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between our two countries.

In the past 50 years, our trade volume has grown nearly 1,700 times, from less than 69 million to over 116 billion US$.

I bet you will never find a match in your trade relations with any other countries.

I bet this is the record for the Netherlands that may remain unbroken forever. 

Over the past two years, against all odds of the pandemic, our trade increased by 7.8% and 27% respectively. 

The Netherlands is China’s second largest trading partner only after Germany within the EU. China is one of Netherlands’ largest trading partners outside the EU. Among all the EU countries, the Netherlands is the largest destination of Chinese investment, and the second largest source of investment to China.

The Netherlands is an important country in EU, it is larger than its relative size would suggest.

Now, the other side: my challenges, and sometimes confusions.

The first major challenge is geopolitics.

China is the second largest economy. In the eyes of many western politicians, China is an imaginary enemy. You may hear a lot of rhetoric and actions like decoupling, containment, even a new cold war. The recently concluded NATO summit is a case in point.

The second major one is the negative media report. 

Be it international news outlets like BBC, CNN, or Dutch media, there is near-zero positive coverage about China.

Please allow me to touch briefly my confusions. 

One, merchants or missionaries.

I was told that the Dutch are both. But now it seems that they are becoming more the latter. We are open to equal-footed dialogues, but not teaching and preaching, let alone naming and shaming.

Two, market and security.

Market can bring us closer, yet politics may set us apart. There is a growing tendency of politicizing issues and abusing national security to interfere with the economic relations. Taking the so-called spying activities for instance, those measures banning Chinese companies are based on speculation not evidence, no proof whatsoever.

Globalization is under threat.

Three, government and parliament.

I have good working relations with the government. Yet my relations with the parliament are quite difficult. It is not easy to schedule a meeting with the parliamentarians.

In China, what people complain -- and dislike most about the administration or legislation? Politicians and bureaucrats kicking the ball.

Here in the Netherlands, when I discuss some difficult issues, I might get the following response: it’s EU policy that the Netherlands has to observe; it’s the parliament and not the government; this is the separation of power, you should understand and appreciate democracy.

I can’t even complain.

Fourth, English polite and Dutch direct.

When learning English, I have been taught to say things in an implicit way, especially on difficult topics, euphemism.

But Dutch are more forthcoming.

I appreciate that, and can be equally direct. I hope I will not be called a “wolf-warrrior”, as many Chinese diplomats are labeled.

Fifth, the Netherlands is the world No.1 in terms of English proficiency, yet it has no English paper or TV channel. 

All my interviews were done in English, then translated into Dutch, and only part of my remarks were covered, together with the newspaper’s comments point-by-point so as to “balance” my view. 

Before I came here, I was Ambassador to Ethiopia, a least developed country. It has several English newspapers, a national TV channel that has a 2-hour daily English program in prime time. They covered or broadcast my interviews in their totality and originality, no editing from either.

By the way, I will send you a video linkage if you may want to listen to my speech on the 50th anniversary at a business forum. Among all my speeches and interviews, that was the only one a video was shot.

https://platform.vixyvideo.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/536/uiconf_id/23456325/entry_id/0_raxjz89b/embed/dynamic? 

(I speak at the 48th minute. )

Now let me move to the next part, a brief introduction about China.

First, China has an age-old civilization.

Among all ancient human civilizations in the world, the Chinese civilization is the only one that remains uninterrupted, for five thousand years till now.

This is the source of our pride.

But the embarrassing thing is that, we have been lagging behind over the past two hundred years.

This is the source of our motivation.

Second, China’s economic development is nothing short of a miracle.

When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, its GDP that year was USD 12.3 billion, in 2020, it was 14.6 trillion US dollars.

The per capita GDP has risen from USD 30 to more than USD 10,000 in 70 years, even with the tripling of its population size. 

Trade in 1952 was less than USD 2 billion. In 2020, it was USD 4.65 trillion.

Over the past four decades and more, China was the fastest growing economy and has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty.

Today, China has more than 400 million strong middle class; the largest consumer market.

I don’t mean to overwhelm you, yet do wish to impress you.

Third, some features of the Chinese people and culture.

A.Throughout its history, Chinese are for a strong central government. That may partly explain why the Chinese civilization has been uninterrupted for thousands of years, and in those times when communication and transportation means were quite primitive. 

Well, for one thing, unlike in Europe, the fiefs and official titles were not inherited, instead they were bestowed by the emperor.

B.We Chinese attach importance to education. 

We believe in Confucius. The sage said, more than two thousand years ago, that a country needs to stand on three pillars: population, production and education. Indeed, one major tenet of Confucius teachings is the emphasis on education.

The imperial examination was the most important way for emperors to select talents. It was also important for social mobility, people of humble background could rise as high as the prime minister, so long as they could pass the exams.

C.We respect for hard working. We Chinese in general are not very religious, yet have a religious zeal to chase dream. Of course we can’t work 24/7, yet 996 is quite common: every working day from 9 am to 9 pm; every week working for six days.

D.We respect the elders. Filial piety is a virtue advocated in our culture, seniority is important at home and in workplace.

Do we have problems? Yes, there are many. Just give you some, in addition to the geopolitics. 

In our drive to get developed, a serious challenge is how to reconcile the heritage of our civilization with modernization.

This is a hard issue to solve.

If modernization means getting westernized, then: A) could it be successful? B) Are we still Chinese?

If we copy selectively, then how to pick and choose? What to take and what to discard.

Today, we fully subscribe to the universal consensus, as reflected in the outcome of the United Nations conferences, that there is no one-size-fits-all development model, each country may explore and find its own way that fits its national conditions.

Yes, we make reference to the merits of other civilizations, but do not copy.

This is a diversified world. Diversity is beauty.

There are other problems like ageing of population, one-child family, (the fertility rate is only 1.3%, even lower than that of Japan) We are getting old before getting rich.

Yesterday I read the news that, according to the UN, India will take over China as the most populous country next year.

I wish to drive home a message here. If one looks at China’s history, and its policy, he or she could come to the view that, China is a peace-loving nation. 

In the ancient times, the Chinese built the Great Wall for defense purpose.

In the early 15th century, Admiral Zheng He made seven maritime expeditions reaching as far as the east coast of the Africa continent, 87 years before Christopher Columbus sailed to America, yet no colonization ensued.

China’s policy is centered on development.

When we say our major task is to meet the growing need for a better life of the Chinese people, it also means that we have no interest to rival or overtake the superpower for dominance.

China has become the second largest contributor to UN regular budget and the peacekeeping budget, only after the US.

China participates actively and contributes greatly to the global efforts in addressing issues like climate change.

Here is my line:

Can you recall that China has ever done anything that harmed the interest of the Europeans? In the past decades, hundreds of years, and thousands of years?

NO.

International cooperation is more needed today than ever.

Unprecedented challenges like climate and Covid require unprecedented cooperation.

I hope that China and the Netherlands could join hands in promoting global cooperation.

I see a lot of similarities between our two peoples.

We both like the blue and white porcelain. 

Both are practical, pragmatic, open, and sometimes very direct.

Both our peoples are action-oriented, results-based. Little wonder that our relationship is termed as “an open and pragmatic partnership for comprehensive cooperation”.

Before conclusion, I wish to once again express my sincere appreciation for your interest in and efforts to learn about China also in Asia, and the developing countries.

I want to say this: if you are focused in the developed world, you are living in the past and present, as the word “developed” could mean.

If you are interested in the developing world, you are living in the present and future, as the word “developing” could mean.

Many developing countries have shown momentum and potential of sustained growth.

I believe that, your open-mindedness, looking into the future, cultivating global perspective will pay you off.

Thank you.