Source: People's Daily - People's Daily
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Turkey. Since the establishment of the strategic cooperative relationship between the two countries in 2010, exchanges and cooperation in various fields have been promoted in an orderly manner. The two sides have supported each other in the fight against THE new crown pneumonia epidemic, and the vaccine cooperation has been fruitful, deepening the friendship between the two peoples. The two countries have promoted strategic cooperation based on mutual respect, which has had a positive impact on a regional and global scale and brought more benefits to the two countries and their peoples.
Pragmatic cooperation continued to deepen
In 2015, China and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding on connecting the Belt and Road Initiative with Turkey's "Middle Corridor", injecting new impetus into the deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation and sharing of cooperation results between the two countries. In recent years, pragmatic cooperation between China and Turkey has yielded fruitful results.
In the southern Turkish city of Adana, the Hunuturu Power Station, a modern power plant built by Chinese companies using ultra-supercritical coal-fired power generation technology, has sprung up on the Mediterranean coast. The project plans to build two 660 MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired generating units, simultaneous construction of flue gas desulfurization and scr denitrification units, emissions better than EU standards and gas turbine standards, the first unit is scheduled to be put into operation in March 2022. Suleiman Elban, governor of Adana Province, said that the construction of the Hunuturu power station is progressing smoothly, the project is a benchmark for investment cooperation between Turkey and China, a key project for the in-depth docking of the "Belt and Road" initiative and the "middle corridor", and "the pragmatic cooperation between Turkey and China has shown resilience and great potential".
Turkey's Quampot Terminal is an important port along the "Belt and Road". After the acquisition of a 65% stake in the terminal by the Chinese-funded consortium, it retained all the operation team and staff of the earthmoving, implemented local management, and continued to grow container throughput and revenue.
A number of large-scale projects undertaken by Chinese-funded enterprises, such as the second phase of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway and the Ankara 500 MW photovoltaic industrial park, have been landed one after another, creating a large number of employment opportunities in the local area.
A few days ago, the China-Europe express train from Taiyuan, Shanxi, loaded with daily necessities, machinery and equipment and other materials, arrived in Mersin, the largest port city in southern Turkey. Turkish Ambassador to China Emin Jonan said that the railway connectivity between Turkey and China will accelerate economic activity in Eurasia, thereby strengthening bilateral economic relations between the two countries. Through freight trains, Turkish products will appear on China's shelves more frequently, and Turkish merchants will also join China's e-commerce platforms to explore online sales channels.
Over the years, Chinese technology companies have accelerated their investment in the construction of factories in Turkey. Huawei has set up the second largest overseas R&D center in Turkey, and smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, and TRANSSION have also invested in Turkey to set up factories.
In the face of the impact of the epidemic, China has actively taken various measures to increase imports from Turkey, and Turkey's high-quality agricultural products such as cherries, pistachios, dairy products, aquatic products and poultry meat have been welcomed by Chinese consumers...
In 2020, the bilateral trade in goods between China and Turkey reached US$24.08 billion, an increase of 15.6% year-on-year. China's investment in Turkey has grown steadily, with a total of US$1.92 billion in China's total direct investment in Turkey by the end of 2020 and US$55.93 million in 2020, an increase of 338.3% year-on-year. Vice Foreign Minister Gillan said that under the epidemic, The trade cooperation between Turkey and China has risen against the trend, showing the strong vitality of economic and trade relations between the two countries and becoming a model for cooperation between countries around the world.
People-to-people exchanges are getting closer and closer
In recent years, people-to-people exchanges between China and Turkey have continued to grow, and the enthusiasm of the people of the two countries to understand each other's languages and cultures has been high. Turkish lad Zach is particularly fond of Chinese martial arts, so he chose Chinese major in college, "This decision changed my fate - the supply of relevant talents is in short supply, and I have a lot of options for finding a job." ”
At present, there are 4 Confucius Institutes in Turkey, which has become a new window for the Turkish people to learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture; more than 10 universities in each country have opened Turkish or Chinese majors. At the beginning of this year, Poplar Creek Middle School in Turkey signed a cooperation agreement with the Confucius Institute of the Middle East Technical University in Turkey to Chinese teaching into the classroom of the local middle school.
China and Turkey have concluded 25 pairs of friendly provincial and municipal relations. In 2016, China actively participated in the Antalya Expo in Turkey, and the "China Garden" was permanently retained in Antalya. In 2018, Turkey held a "Year of Tourism" in China, attracting more Chinese tourists to visit Turkey, and the number of Chinese tourists entering the country increased by 60% that year, exceeding 420,000 in 2019. The continuous expansion of exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of culture, education, tourism and sports has laid a good public opinion foundation for the development of Sino-Turkish relations.
Turkish Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Yavuz said that Turkey and China have a long history and splendid culture, and are making great strides on the road of modernization and development. "The Turkish people love China and are very interested in China, which makes the people of the two countries know each other. It is believed that people-to-people exchanges between the two countries will deepen and develop simultaneously with political and economic cooperation. ”
Working together to fight the pandemic has been productive
In the face of the sudden outbreak of new crown pneumonia, China and Turkey have stood by each other and overcome difficulties together, carried out fruitful cooperation in the provision of medical supplies, sharing anti-epidemic experience, and new crown vaccines, and worked together to build a "firewall" against the epidemic.
At the critical moment of China's fight against the epidemic, Tufang urgently provided two batches of masks, protective clothing and other urgently needed medical supplies to Wuhan. After the outbreak of the epidemic in Turkey, the Chinese side immediately assisted the Turkish side in docking qualified Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises and facilitated the purchase of testing reagents, therapeutic drugs and medical equipment in China. China has also organized a number of groups of domestic experts and medical workers to share experiences and business exchanges with Turkish counterparts through video, and provided COVID-19 vaccines to Turkey and prepared for joint production of vaccines.
In January this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the new crown vaccine developed by China's Kexing Company, showing the safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines to the people of Turkey and the world with practical actions. Turkish Health Minister Koja said: "Solidarity and cooperation in the international community are particularly important in difficult times. The widespread vaccination of COVID-19 vaccines produced in China in Turkey will help promote the development of bilateral relations and continue to deepen strategic cooperation between the two countries. ”
At present, Sino-Turkish relations are in an important historical stage of inheriting the past and opening up the future, and are facing more development opportunities and broader development space. Accelerate the docking of development strategies, promote strategic cooperative relations to be stable and far-reaching, and China and Turkey will work together to move towards a more brilliant future.
(Ankara Electric)
People's Daily ( 2021-08-25 03 edition)