1. Establishing Directions through High-level Exchanges

Since the establishment of China-CEEC Cooperation as a format, the Chinese leadership has been paying close attention to the region, signified by more frequent visits there, which were often returned by visits of CEEC leaders to China, with a clear focus on closer cooperation. Regular exchanges of high-level visits has helped increase strategic common understanding on cooperation and charter a blueprint for future cooperation. In 2016, President Xi Jinping visited the Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland, where China established or upgraded its strategic partnership with the three countries. During the 2015 China-CEEC Summit held in Suzhou, President Xi received visiting CEEC leaders in Beijing. In 2019, President Xi visited Greece, where bilateral cooperation was taken to a new level. CEEC political leaders also visited China on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the China International Import Expo, the Summer Davos Forum, etc.. The first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held in Beijing in 2017, where 37 heads of state or government took part in its Leaders’ Roundtable, including five from CEECs, namely the Czech President Milos Zeman, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán Viktor, the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło and the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in 2019 was attended by four CEEC leaders, namely the Czech President Milos Zeman, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán Viktor and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Four CEEC leaders attended the first China International Import Expo in 2018, including the Czech President Milos Zeman, the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán Viktor. The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić were present at the second China International Import Expo in 2019. At the 2018 Summer Davos, President Xi met with visiting Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis, the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Eight China-CEEC Summits have been held at prime ministerial level since 2012. Chinese and CEEC leaders held collective and bilateral meetings in Warsaw (Poland), Bucharest (Romania), Belgrade (Serbia), Suzhou (China), Riga (Latvia), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Dubrovnik (Croatia). Successive summits have reviewed progress in the cooperation in the previous phase and made plans for actions to be taken and directions to be followed in the next phase. More importantly, the Summits have enabled face-to-face conversations between Chinese and CEEC leaders, where cooperation needs were specified and important agreement was reached on practical cooperation, contributing to higher-quality growth of China-CEEC Cooperation.

Over the eight years, multiple bilateral meetings between leaders were held between China and CEECs, in the interest of higher level cooperation. Guided by the overall China-EU relations, China-CEEC Cooperation has been steadily enriched and deepened, on the basis of a number of Guidelines and a medium-term agenda published during the eight summits.