2nd LD: Xi arrives in Poland for state visit

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Poland Sunday on the second stop of his three-nation Eurasia tour aimed at cementing bilateral ties and strengthening China's relations with Europe.

It is the first state visit by a Chinese head of state to Poland in 12 years. Before visiting Poland, Xi visited Serbia from June 17 to June 19.

The visits, which came on the heels of Xi's visit to the Czech Republic in March, demonstrate the great importance China attaches to its ties with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and with the European Union (EU), said Liu Zuokui, a scholar with the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

During his stay in Warsaw, Xi is scheduled to hold talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda on enhancement of bilateral ties.

He will also meet with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, and attend a luncheon hosted by Polish parliamentary leaders. The two sides are expected to sign agreements in areas such as finance, civil aviation, science and technology, and education.

Poland established diplomatic relations with China in October 1949, making it one of the first countries to forge official diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China. Since the two countries lifted their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in 2011, their relations have been on a "fast track" with deepening political trust and widening cooperation in economy and trade, tourism and education.

With bilateral trade reaching 17.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, Poland is China's largest trading partner in the CEE region, while China is Poland's largest trading partner in Asia.

More than 60,000 Chinese tourists travelled to Poland last year, up from 7,700 in 2004. Five Confucius Institutes have been established in the country.

"China-Poland ties are at a historical high," said Chinese Ambassador to Poland Xu Jian.

Poland greatly values its ties with China. The speaker of the lower house of Polish parliament attended China's V-Day celebrations in Beijing in September 2015.

Duda paid a state visit to China in November last year. When meeting with Xi, Duda vowed that his country would help boost ties between Europe and China and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. During his stay in China, the two countries inked a memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the initiative.

Proposed by Xi in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China with Europe through Central and Western Asia by inland routes, and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road connecting China with Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe by sea routes. It is a development initiative that focuses on inter-connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily in Eurasia.

Xi's visit is expected to help further align the Belt and Road Initiative with Poland's development plans and promote Poland's role as an "engine" to boost China-CEE cooperation.

Home to some of the world's greatest personalities including mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie and pianist Frederic Chopin, Poland is an important country in the EU and the biggest in the CEE region in terms of land area, population and economic scale.

"Poland will play an irreplaceable role in the Belt and Road Initiative and the '16+1' cooperation," Xu said, referring to the cooperation involving the CEE countries and China.

Poland sits in the center of Europe, and many of the China-Europe freight trains pass through the country. Chinese experts believe that Poland has a potentially great role to play as a logistics hub between China and the CEE region, as well as between China and Europe.

As the only CEE founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the host of the first China-CEE leaders' meeting in 2012, Poland has shown great enthusiasm in enhancing inter-connectivity between the CEE region and China and participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Belt and Road Initiative has attracted global attention and inspired not only Poland but also other countries along the way, Polish scholar Radek Pyffel said.

With its geographical advantages, Poland has a significant role to play in the Belt and Road Initiative, Pyffel said, adding that the initiative will help Chinese enterprises enter the Polish market and vice versa.

After visiting Poland, Xi is to travel to Uzbekistan for a state visit and attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tashkent. Endi