Interview: Belgian ambassador hails expansion of bilateral ties with China

Belgium-China bilateral ties have increased both the understanding between governments as well as friendship between two peoples in an everyday manner, Belgian Ambassador to China Michael Malherbe said in an interview with Xinhua.

Malherbe described the expansion of bilateral ties from "traditional" areas of economy and investment to people-to-people exchanges a "major development."

"We went from government-to-government relationships, often based on the economy; (to) individual relationships between people, between students and universities, for example," he said.

The Belgian diplomat noted that every year more and more young Belgians decide to learn Chinese and direct flights connecting two countries' cities are on the rise. "Chinese tourism to Europe, and to Belgium in particular, is booming," he said.

"We support the day to day improving of our visa issuing system to cope with the rapid growth of Chinese tourism," he said.

Even in the traditional relationship in areas of economy and investment, the landscape has already changed. For decades, the Belgians used China as a production base to produce products for export purposes while now they consider China a key export market, according to Malherbe.

China's middle class is growing and has become an important purchasing power, which makes it an interesting consumer for Belgian companies, he explained.

Moreover, "China is becoming a net investor and a net exporter of capital to the rest of the world. Here too, we believe that Belgium has a role to play," said Malherbe.

Belgian technology companies could become partners for Chinese companies in their European development projects, in areas such as green technologies, clean technologies, environmental, pharmaceuticals, chemistry and new materials, he said.

"We want to show our talents to China in all these areas to stimulate and attract Chinese investment to Europe. We also want to show, as the geographical centre of Europe and the EU headquarters, we are also interesting as an investment destination," he added.

Belgium is a country of small- and medium-sized enterprises, where the focus is on more innovation and creativity than on mass production. Malherbe said technology and innovation is the area where Belgian companies can be complementary partners.

Moreover, he said the rapid development of bilateral ties over the years, especially the high-level visits between the two countries in recent years, demonstrated enhanced trust between two countries. Enditem