Cooperation between Denmark and China was on the fast track, a famous Danish sinologue says.
In an interview with Xinhua Wednesday, Professor Kjeld-Erik Broedsgaard, head of Copenhagen Business School Asia Research Center, said China and Denmark had long been friends, as had the two peoples.
The earliest contact between the two countries could be dated back to 1674 when the first Danish merchant ship made a trip to China, Broedsgaard said.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Denmark. Denmark established diplomatic relations with China on May 11, 1950, and became one of the first Western countries to recognize the People's Republic of China.
The development of ties have seen ups and downs over the past 60 years, but the relationship between China and Denmark has been mainly marked by cooperation, especially in the past two decades.
Broedsgaard said that trade, economic exchanges and technical and economic cooperation were the driving force for the development of Sino-Danish relations.
The two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2008, and the Danish government had launched a China action plan to promote relations and advance shared interests of the two peoples in fields such as politics, climate change, energy, business, culture and education, he said.
＂Every six days, a Danish company sets up in China. Up until June 2009, Denmark has invested in 527 projects and there are now 365 Danish companies in China with 520 business addresses,＂ he said, adding the two economies were highly complementary, and that there was a great potential for cooperation in the future.
There had been an increasing number of high-level visits between the two countries to address global issues and deepen cooperation in such areas as climate change, environmental protection and new energy, Broedsgaard said.
He said economic and diplomatic concerns took priority in Sino-Danish relations in the past; but both sides had now also strengthened contacts and cooperation in cultural, scientific and technological, educational and military fields.
More exchanges of literature and art groups were held in the meantime as an increasing number of people had become interested in each other's culture and language, the professor said, adding that nearly 400 Danish students were studying in China, and more than 3,000 Chinese students and scholars were in Denmark.
＂Copenhagen has become Scandinavia's prominent and influential China Research Center in Europe, together with a number of China experts in three Asian institutes in the University of Copenhagen, the Nordic Institute and Copenhagen Business School.＂
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