After attending the 21st China-EU leaders' meeting in Brussels, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang continues his Europe tour with an official visit to Croatia – both a member state of the European Union and a participant in the cooperation mechanism between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). Li will also take part in the annual China-CEEC summit in Dubrovnik, a city on Croatia's Adriatic coast.
Li's Europe tour comes just two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visits to Italy, Monaco and France. Both leaders chose Europe as the destination of their first overseas trips this year, highlighting the importance that China attaches to its ties with Europe.
Situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean, Croatia has a major role to play in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and in connecting Europe with China more closely.
A natural bridge
Li's visit is the first ever by a Chinese premier to Croatia since the establishment of diplomatic ties, "consolidating traditional friendship and advancing comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two sides" will be a major task during the visit as Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao said at a press briefing.
During Li's visit, China and Croatia will issue a joint statement summarizing any important consensus reached by their leaders and mapping out future cooperation; the two sides will sign government cooperation documents and commercial contracts covering multiple sectors, according to Wang.
A survey released in March last year showed that some 89 percent of the respondents thought that relations between Croatia and China were friendly, 86 percent supported Chinese investments in Croatia, especially in areas of infrastructure, tourism and e-commerce, and 85 percent believed that China was a reliable cooperation partner.
Positioned at the intersection of the maritime Silk Road and continental Silk Road, Croatia's geographic position makes it a natural bridge between China and Europe and creates more possibilities for Belt and Road cooperation across the sea.
