At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Finnish President Alexander Stubb will pay a state visit to China from Oct 28 to 31, the Foreign Ministry announced Friday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian briefed the media the arrangement of Stubb's visit to China at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
"During President Stubb's visit to China, President Xi Jinping will hold talks with him, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji will meet with him respectively to have in-depth discussions on bilateral relations and issues of common concern," said Lin.
"Finland is one of the first Western countries to recognize the People's Republic of China. Now the China-Finland relations are developing well. The very day when President Stubb arrives in Beijing marks the 74th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between the two countries. China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with Finland, carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of trade, investment and green transformation, work together to address global challenges, and push the bilateral relations for constant new progress," said Lin.
Finnish president to visit China: spokesman
China plays an important and unique role among BRICS countries in leading the Global South and promoting multilateralism, said Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
While participating in the BRICS Plus leaders' dialogue during the final day of the Kazan summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the great transformation across the world.
"We support more Global South countries in joining the cause of BRICS as full members, partner countries or in the 'BRICS Plus' format so that we can combine the great strength of the Global South to build together a community with a shared future for mankind," Xi said.
No matter how the international landscape evolves, said the Chinese president, "we in China will always keep the Global South in our heart, and maintain our roots in the Global South."
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Gustavo de Carvalho spoke highly of Xi's speech.
"He talks a lot about this fragmented global context and challenges that countries not only China, but also emerging countries and countries from the Global South are facing from this increasing polarization, but also positioning China to a certain degree to be able to further engage with other BRICS members when it comes to specific issues, whether it's in relation to green development, whether it's in in relation to this what he calls this high quality development, type of approach which very much comes together with narratives that we've seen here in Africa, for instance, the idea of not just engaging with trade, but also inserting the continents in a more high value portion of the global supply chains. I think that brings a very important process but also that it allows that diversity and varieties of views that we have within BRICS to still be accommodated in positions, for instance, like the ones that China presented," said Gustavo de Carvalho.
The first-ever summit of an expanded BRICS took place from Tuesday to Thursday in Kazan, the capital city of western Russia's Republic of Tatarstan.
BRICS began with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and has now evolved into an influential international cooperation mechanism with an expanded membership.
Besides the countries that officially joined the BRICS family on Jan 1, 2024, over 30 countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have either formally applied for or expressed interest in the membership.
China plays key role in pursuing true multilateralism: expert
