The Chinese vice president arrived in Lisbon this Sunday to assess the relationship between the two countries. He should be satisfied with what he sees, but he will want more. Visit lasts four days.
China has been the fourth largest foreign direct investor in Portugal for several years, holding a global position valued at €11.2 billion at the end of 2022, according to the Bank of Portugal (BdP).
The Asian giant, the second largest economy in the world after the United States, is still the fourth largest seller of goods to Portugal, having surpassed the Netherlands last year in this ranking. And it wants to gain weight in exports.
Tourism will be one of the major levers in a plan that intends to reach “one million Chinese tourists” per year within four years, according to the Chinese Tourism Association in Portugal, which met less than a month ago with the Secretary of State for Tourism, Nuno Fazenda.
The Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, Han Zheng, arrives today (Sunday, May 7) in Portugal for a four-day visit.
On the agenda will, of course, be the deepening of economic relations between the two countries which, despite being deep in fact, have been affected in recent years by greater difficulties. The idea is more than overcoming these setbacks.
First, the pandemic, which held back economies and trade expansion. Then, more recently, in 2022, Russia’s war against Ukraine.
China is a historic ally of Russia and has been heavily criticized for not having taken a more forceful stance towards the Kremlin. But even this environment seems to be unwinding a bit.
Recently, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, went to China, met with the President of the country, Xi Jinping. With her was the French President, Emmanuel Macron. And they came out more excited.
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