China, Denmark pledge to further co-op, lift ties to new high

COPENHAGEN - China and Denmark have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and elevate their relations to a new high.

Visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Sunday held talks with Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, separately.

Queen Margrethe II said her state visit to China two years ago still dwells in her memory, and the fruitful result from the visit has promoted the good relations between the two countries.

She hoped that Denmark and China would continue to boost cultural, art and regional exchanges and cooperation.

While receiving Yang at the prime minister's office, Rasmussen said Denmark and China have maintained a strong momentum of developing bilateral relationship.

Rasmussen said he has been cherishing the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit, which was held in Washington from March 31 to April 1.

He hoped that the two nations would continue to enhance high-level exchanges and deepen pragmatic cooperation in a variety of areas so as to elevate the bilateral relations to a new high.

Denmark supports a closer cooperative relationship between the European Union (EU) and China and will play a positive role in promoting such a relationship, Rasmussen added.

Yang agreed that China and Denmark have maintained a good relationship embodied in high-level exchange visits, fruitful economic and trade cooperation, booming regional cooperation, as well as frequent educational, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

He said China will work with Denmark to comprehensively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries.

Yang called on the two countries to speed up the integration of their development strategies, broaden the mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as interconnectivity, green development, transformation to a low-carbon economy, medicine and health, agriculture and food, as well as enhance people-to-people and regional exchanges.

He said the two countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation in important international affairs, and hoped that Denmark will play a more active role in promoting China-EU relations and China-North Europe cooperation.

Denmark is the last leg of Yang's three-nation tour, which also took him to France and Luxembourg.