DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN FINLAND AND CHINA
 Finland recognized the People's Republic of China on 13th January 1950, and the two countries established diplomatic relations on 28th October of the same year. In the spring of 1951, the two countries exchanged diplomatic envoys at ministerial level. Geng Biao, the Chinese Minister accredited to Denmark, was assigned concurrently as Minister to Finland. In 1954, the two countries raise the level of diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level and exchanged ambassadors.

 Over the 50 years after the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Finland, the Sino-Finnish relations have developed steadily. Remarkable achievements have been made in the contacts and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics, economy and trade, science and culture.

 The exchange of visits between the Parliaments of the two countries started in the 1950s. Mr. Sukselainen, Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, headed a Finnish parliamentary delegation to China in 1956 and met Chairman Mao Zedong, Chairman of NPC Liu Shaoqi and Premier Zhou Enlai. The Delegation of the Chinese National People's Congress headed by Seypidin Azizi paid a return visit to Finland in 1957 and met Finnish President, Speaker of Parliament and Prime Minister respectively. In the fields of economy and trade, China, Finland and the Soviet Union signed a trilateral trade agreement in 1952. In 1953, China and Finland signed the Inter-Governmental Trade and Payment Agreement. It was the first one of its kind between China and Western Countries.

 In the 1960s and 1970s, the relations between the two countries witnessed a continuous development. There were some exchange of visits at ministerial level between different ministries and departments of the two countries. In the early 1970s, Finland rendered its full support to China in restoring its legitimate seat in the United Nations. In 1979, Vice-Premier Geng Biao headed a Chinese Government Delegation to Finland on an official visit and that was the first visit by a Chinese Government leader to Finland since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During the visit the two sides signed the Agreement on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between China and Finland and set up a bilateral mixed committee which holds meetings annually.

 Since the beginning of 1980s, high level exchange of visits between the two countries have increased and friendly cooperation between the two sides has been enhanced in all fields. The heads of state and governments of both countries have paid visits to each other.

 The Chinese and Finnish economies are quite complementary to each other. Since the 1980s, the economic and trade relations between the two countries have developed rapidly and bilateral trade volume has increased by a big margin. China's major export commodities to Finland are textiles and garments, shoes, food and oil, recreation and sports products, light industry products, art & handicrafts. China imports from Finland mainly paper machines, power-generator sets, paper, cardboard, compound fertilizer, machinery, medical instruments, polyethylene, electrical wires and cables and switchboards.

 In 1980, the two countries signed the Program on Cultural Exchange and Cooperation, which was renewed thereafter every three years. Through this program the cultural exchanges between the two countries have increased greatly. China Central Opera House, Dalian Peking Opera Troupe, Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe, Tibetan Song and Dance Troupe, Kun Opera Troupe, Zhejiang Yue Opera Troupe and other major performance groups visited Finland and were received warmly. Also Finnish Ballet Troupe, Sibelius Academy Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Turku paid visits to China. Furthermore, artists from the two countries held two Forbidden City Music Festivals in Beijing in 1996 and 1998.

 In 1986, the two countries signed the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation. Since then, the scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries has made remarkable progress especially in recent years. Some of the scientific and technological projects have proved to be quite successful, such as Beijing-Miyun Winter Water Supply Project, Ice Prevention Project at the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River and Hebei Fur Processing Project.

 The Bilateral Agreement on Exchange of Students was signed in 1973, after which the number of students exchanged has increased year by year. In 1998, there were 1314 Chinese students and scholars in Finland and over 170 Finnish students studying in China.

 Military contacts between the two countries started at the end of 1970s. China established its Military Attaché’s Office in Finland in 1979, while Finland assigned its first Resident Military Attaché to Beijing in 1999. The top Chinese military leaders who visited Finland are: General Zhang Wannian, Chief of General Staff (1993), General Chi Haotian, Minister of National Defense (1995) and General Fu Quanyou (1997). Admiral Klenberg, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces (1994), General Gustav Hägglund, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces (1998), Lieutenant General Korpela, Chief of the General Staff of the Defense Forces and Minister of Defense Mrs. Taina also visited China.

 In July 1995, Foreign Ministers of the two countries exchanged notes on the establishment of consulate generals in Helsinki, and Finlandd its Consulate General in Shanghai in November of the same year. In December 1996, the two governments reached an agreement on the maintenance of the Finnish Consulate General in Hong Kong SAR after 1 July 1997.

New Publications in Chinese

·      Kalevala, translated from Finnish into Chinese by Zhang Hua-Wen, published by Nan Jing Yi Lin Publishing House

·      Finnish Design Book, published by  Zhao Changchun, printed by Ya Chung Color Printing House

·      Witness to History, The Memoirs of Mauno Koivisto, President of Finland 1982-1994, translated in Chinese by Yang Yuguang, Chen Yenzhang and Yang Jong, published by Shanghai Yi Lin Publishing House in 2000  

·      The Journey of the Marshal of Finland Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim across Asia on horse back by Wang Jiaji, published by  Shan Dong Pictorial Publishing House

·       Finnish Political History by Jukka Nevakivi, Osmo Jussila and Seppo Hentilä, translated in Chinese by Zhang Weihua, published by China Economy Publishing House