Sino-Romanian relations
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Updated: 2004-06-08 11:34

I. Bilateral Political Relations

China and Romania established diplomatic relations on October 5, 1949 and exchanged ambassadors in March 1950. At the 26th UN General Assembly held in October 1971,Romania, as a co-sponsor country, voted in favor of the resolution calling for the restoration of all the legitimate rights of Chinain the United Nations (UN). In the early 1970s, Romaniamade a lot of contribution to the improvement of Sino-US relations. For a long time, China and Romaniahave maintained a close relationship of friendship and cooperation. The Party and state leaders from the two countries have also kept frequent contacts and exchanges.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the main visits to Romania by Chinese leaders were as follows: Zhu De, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) (1955); Peng Zhen, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (1960); Premier Zhou Enlai (1965, 1966); Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee (1965); Vice Premier Wan Li (1984); Qiao Shi, a permanent member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee (1989); President Li Xiannian (1964, 1974, and 1984); Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the CPC Central Committee and Premier (1978); Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the CPC (1983); and Premier Zhou Ziyang (1986).

The major visits to China by Romanian leaders were as follows: Gheoghe Apostol, First Secretary of the Romanian Worker's Party Central Committee (1954); Gheoghe Gheorghiu-Dej, First Secretary of the Romanian Worker's Party Central Committee (1956); Ion Maurer, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers (1964,1966,1967 and 1969); Nicolae Ceausescu, General Secretary of the RCP Central Committee and President of Romania (1971,1978,1982,1985 and 1988); Prime Minister Manea Manescu (1978); Prime Minister Ilie Verdet (1980) and Prime Minister Constantin Dascalescu (1983).

After 1989 when a sudden change occurred in the East European countries, Romanian was renamed from the Socialist Republic of Romanian intoRomania. And Sino-Romanian relations have maintained continuous development ever since.

The Major visits to Romania by Chinese leaders since then were as follows:State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen (September 19991, and September 1993); Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Peng Chong (October 1991); Premier Li Peng (July 1994); Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Qian Zhengying (October 1994); Vice Chairman of the NPC Central Committee Li Peiyao (October 1995); Hu Jintao, a permanent member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (November 1995); President Jiang Zeming (June 29-July 2, 1996); Chairman Li Ruihua of the Chinese People's Political Conference (May 1998); Vice Chairman Bu He of Central Committee of the National People's Congress (June 2000); State Council Wu Yi (February 2001); Vice Chairman Sun Fuling of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (October 2001); Vice Chairman Chen Jinhua of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (June 2002), and Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (July 2002).

The major viists to China by Romanian leaders were as follows:President Ion Iliescu (January 1991 and March 1994); Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Marzian (July 1992); Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Nastase (December 1993); Prime Minister Vacaroiu (July 1995); Speaker of Senate Gherman (November 1995); President Emil Constantinescu (September 1997); Senate Speaker P Roman (September 1998), Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Diaconescu (July 1999); Senate Speaker Mincea Ionesscu-Quintus (July 2000); Senate Speaker Vacaroiiu (April 2002); and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase (June 2002 and May 2003).

II. Bilateral Economic and Trade Relations

ChinaandRomaniabegan to carry out economic and technological cooperation from 1970. During the 1970s,ChinaprovidedRomaniawith interest-free loans in the form of commodities, convertible foreign exchanges and complete sets of plant equipment. In 1978, the two countries set up the Inter-Government Committee on Economic and Technological Cooperation with regular meetings to be held annually. In 1994, it was renamed the Inter-Government Economic and Trade Committee.

The trade volume between the two countries reached a record high of US$1.094 billion in 1979, and then gradually decreased. The figure touched the record low of US$0.191 billion in 1999. Without joint efforts from both countries, the trade volume has been on the increase since 2000. It amounted to US$0.298 billion in 2000 and US$0.354 billion in 2001.

In 2002, the trade volume between China and Romania reached US$0.753 billion, with an increase of 112.6 percent from the previous year, of which China's export was US$0.362 billion and import US$0.39 billion.

So far, there have been nearly 8000 Chinese companies registered in Roman with a total investment of US$51.7 million, 0.6 percent of the total investmentRomaniaabsorbs from foreign countries.

III. Bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the Fields of Science and Technology, Culture, and Education

(I)ChinaandRomaniahave maintained a good relationship for cultural cooperation. The two countries signed three agreements in 1952, 1965 and 1994 respectively. In addition to government-to-government cultural exchanges, the two sides also actively encouraged and supported people-to-people exchanges in recent years, and the number of the mutual visits by cultural delegations and groups reached twenty or so in each year. In September 2000, the two countries signed the 2001-2004 program of cultural exchanges between the two Governments.

(II)ChinaandRomaniahave all along maintained a stable and fine relationship for scientific and technological cooperation. In 1953, the two countries signed the first agreement on cooperation in the field of science and technology and then established the Inter-Government Scientific and Technological Cooperation Committee. At the 35th regular meeting of the Committee held in Bucharest in June 1999, the two sides signed 66 projects of cooperation involving agriculture, chemical industry, geology and mining, light industry, biology and metallurgy, etc.

(III) The education departments of China and Romaniahave signed a series of agreements on educational cooperation over a long period of time, and the major agreements are those concerning the exchanges of educational delegations, students, teachers and experiences, and the direct cooperation between institutions of higher learning. In July 1995, the Chinese State Education Commission and the Romanian Ministry of Education signed the agreement on mutual recognition of record of schooling, diplomas and certificates of higher education. In April 1998, the education ministries of the two countries signed the agreement on educational exchanges and cooperation for the period from 1998 to 2001. According to the agreement, each side at present provides the other with 22 scholarships. In 2001, there were 24 Chinese students studying inRomaniaon a government scholarship and there was the similar number of Romanian students in China.

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