Beijing cements ties with Madrid, Oslo

China, Norway pledge to build on friendship, expand cooperation

President Xi Jinping called on Monday for further promoting friendship and cooperation between China and Norway, and he expressed the hope that Oslo would play a positive role in promoting the sound and stable development of relations between China and Europe.

He made the remarks during a meeting in Beijing with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Store is making a three-day official visit to China that started on Monday, at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang.

Xi emphasized the friendship between the Chinese and Norwegian people since the two countries established diplomatic relations 70 years ago, and said that further developing friendly cooperation between China and Norway aligns with the fundamental interests of both countries as well as the trend of closer interconnection and a shared future among nations worldwide.

He reaffirmed the nation's commitment to peaceful development, saying that China is dedicated to deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization to inject stability and certainty into the changing world, and to create more opportunities for common development among nations.

Historical experience shows that in order to maintain the stable and healthy development of bilateral relations between two countries, the most important thing is to adhere to mutual respect and seek common ground while shelving differences, he said, highlighting the need to respect each other's core interests and accommodate each other's major concerns.

Noting that China and Norway have strong economic complementarity, Xi called on both nations to leverage their respective strengths to expand practical cooperation in areas such as green development, environmental protection, energy transition, agriculture, fisheries and electric vehicles, and to enhance collaboration in education, science and technology, culture, tourism and winter sports.

China and Norway share a broad consensus on global challenges in terms of maintaining world peace and security, responding to climate change and preserving biodiversity, he said.

He expressed China's willingness to enhance communication and collaboration with Norway in multilateral platforms including the United Nations, as well as to advocate true multilateralism to promote inclusive economic globalization and a more equal and orderly multipolar world.

Store noted that Norway was one of the first Nordic countries to establish diplomatic relations with New China. He said that over the past 70 years, Norway-China relations have developed well, and are characterized by dialogue and cooperation based on mutual respect.

Norway respects China's sovereignty, adheres to the one-China policy, and is committed to respecting each other's core interests and major concerns, Store said. He added that his country wants to work with China to learn from each other, share experiences and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

He said that Norway looks forward to expanding cooperation with China, particularly in green development, climate change, artificial intelligence and other fields.

The two sides exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Xi reiterated China's support for efforts conducive to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, and said that Beijing will continue to facilitate peace talks and play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis.