This week, Xi Jinping will become the first Chinese head of state to address participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In a guest commentary published in the newspaper the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he writes about the Sino-Swiss cooperation, which dates back to the 1950s when Switzerland become one of the first countries to recognise the new China and establish diplomatic relations with it.

“China and Switzerland might be located far away from each other, but Switzerland is by no means foreign to the Chinese population,” wrote Xi Jinping. For China, Switzerland is regarded as Europe’s mountainous region and as a “country of scientific and technological innovation” with a “highly developed economy”.  

Xi Jinping describes the cooperation between Switzerland and China as exemplary. Relations between the two countries are “indicative of friendly and cooperative relations between countries that differ in terms of society, development and size”. Xi Jinping is particularly pleased with the innovative strategic partnership that was agreed upon in 2016, which he believes will “provide momentum for the development of Chinese-European relations”.

It is now important that the innovative partnership be further deepened, wrote Xi Jinping, stressing the importance of maintaining high-level visits, developing Sino-Swiss platforms for innovative cooperation among companies, universities and research institutes, fine-tuning the Sino-Swiss free trade area, and cultural cooperation.