Hello everyone, welcome to our special edition of Ni Hao Europe. This year we are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relationship between China and Austria. And the founding of the Communist Party of China was exactly 100 years ago. In 1921, the international labor movement was growing rapidly in Europe as new political parties emerged, and Marxist theory was spreading from Europe to the rest of the world. Far away in Asia, in eastern China's Shanghai, a young political party was founded by 13 young and idealistic delegates, the Communist Party of China. In this century, the party has developed along a journey of challenges and achievements, and it now governs a country of 1.4 billion people. It has fought poverty, fulfilled one five-year plan after another, and achieved epochal development that has transformed the lives of the Chinese people. In our program today, we invited Dr. Heinz Fischer, the former President of the Republic of Austria, who details the period of time when he first visited China, all the way up until his most recent visit, and summarizes his views on China's transformation. It was the year 1971 when Austria and China agreed to have mutual diplomatic relations. And three years later, I had the opportunity to travel to the Far East, to Japan and China, China and Japan actually. And my route through China was Peking, Shanghai, Canton, Hong Kong and then Tokyo. I had really great impressions. I was alone with my wife, no foreigners, almost no foreigners in the country, in the planes, in the trains, in the streets. It was pure Chinese. And two and a half years later, end of 76, a delegation of the Austrian Friendship Group to China was going to China under the leadership of our Minister of Justice. And my wife and I, we were part of the delegations and these pictures behind me and around the Vienna City Hall were taken in my second trip to China 1976. To witness a half century of diplomatic bonds between the two nations a special commemorative photo exhibition called the Fischer Family in China 1976-1977 was displayed in Vienna City Hall, displaying some precious moments from Dr. Fischer and his wife's visits to China. Beginning in 1977, in the meantime Mao Zedong passed away, in the meantime the Cultural Revolution was behind and a new era of Chinese development was starting. And the delegation was rather big and it made a strong influence of our picture of China. By looking for new opportunities for economic development, China's opening up to Europe and the rest of the world shows its determination to create a new image. The change was not so significant at that time. What was significant is that the Cultural Revolution was finished. But the new orientation was not really clear. At the end of the 70s, 80s, etc. you can see, and this is the interesting message of the pictures, that even in 76, 77, 78 it was China far behind the standards of Western Europe or United States or other parts of the world. It was China which was, so to say, recovering from the problems of cultural revolution and looking for new horizons. But in 1976 you could not say this was already the modern China. It was the end of the period of China as it was in the first decades after the foundation in 1949 and it was looking for new options and new forms of economic development and ten years later I was altogether 11 times in China. Ten years later in the 80s the horizon of a new China was already coming up. And every five, in a period of five years, China was significantly progressing, significantly more modern, significantly catching up to the rest of the world, significantly becoming more and more economically leading country as it is now. Now in the year 2021, the path for China's further development is promising but challenges still remain. of China 30-40 years ago was to reach a modest well-being. Not to be rich or one of the richest countries. The goal was to have modest wealth, to have a fair distribution of wealth and income and step by step this goal was more and more realized and fulfilled. And you know that today, in 2021, it's the 100th year, the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Communist Party of China. Today China is really looking forward to become a leader in many aspects of economic development and to give its population a well-developed living standard. And for a Land mit 1,4 Milliarden Einwohnern ist das natürlich keine einfache Aufgabe. Es ist eine große Aufgabe und braucht natürlich hartes Arbeit, Wissen, Energie, internationalen Verhandlungen braucht Frieden. 1945 zunächst auch nicht. Und diese Verhandlungen sind geführt worden Ende 70, Anfang 71. Sie sind in Europa geführt worden. Ich glaube, es war Bukarest, wo diese Verhandlungen geführt wurden. Und sie waren erfolgreich und es hat keine unüberwindlichen Hindernisse gegeben. Und wie Sie sagen, Ende Mai 1971 konnte das formal besiegelt werden. Und von diesem Zeitpunkt an hat eine Entwicklung begonnen, die uns in die Intensität von Beziehungen geführt hat, wie man sich damals es nicht vorstellen hätte können. Aber da war viel Arbeit damit verbunden und wir, glaube ich, sollten allen jenen danken, die in diesen 50 Jahren am Gebäude der österreichisch-chinesisch-chinesisch-österreichischen Beziehungen gearbeitet haben. Dass in der Zeit von Bundeskanzler Klaus von 1966 bis 1970. Da hat schon die Wirtschaftskammer, der rührige Präsident Salinger war damals sehr, sehr aktiv und auch die Industriellenvereinigung gesagt, wir nehmen wirtschaftliche Beziehungen mit China auf, auch wenn es noch keine formalen diplomatischen Beziehungen gibt. Und mit Bruno Kreisky, wie ich schon eingangs gesagt habe, hat man dann gesagt, warum nicht auch diplomatische Beziehungen, warum nicht auch formelle Beziehungen. Aber wir haben uns so entschieden und es war eine richtige Entscheidung, wie alle Fakten seither zeigen. Die momentanen Zahlen und Fakten über China und die Tatsache, dass wir damit rechnen können, dass in den nächsten 10 oder 15 Jahren China vom zweiten Platz in der Weltwirtschaft, den es derzeit inne hat, eventuell zur stärksten Wirtschaftsmacht global aufsteigt that it currently has, and possibly to the strongest economic power globally. And a strong or the strongest economic power of course also has competitors and there are many problems that we have to solve with reason and responsibility. When we talk about China today, what image comes to your mind? Is it the first bullet train in the Himalayan region? Control of the coronavirus pandemic, aided by years of investment in the public health system? Or China's space missions and the space station that it's currently constructing? We spoke to former government officials and academics from Austria, as well as people from the Austria-China Friendship Association to hear personal stories that reflect China's rapid social and economic development. At the end of 2020, China achieved yet another milestone, having lifted over 770 million rural residents out of poverty in almost 40 years. The achievement has not only led to the end of absolute poverty in China, but also significantly lowered the number of people living in poverty around the globe and contributed greatly to the target realizing a better and more prosperous world. Remarkable accomplishments scored by the country and the CPC in ending extreme poverty which came ten years ahead of the UN's goal for poverty eradication include helping underprivileged people living in inhospitable areas to relocate, which has also provided them more job opportunities. The performance is... Well, I would say that one is education. The few people who were able to read and write in 1949, als die Volksrepublik gründet wurde. Das ist ganz, ganz wichtig. Das steckt allerdings nicht nur im Bildungsideal der KP Chinas drinnen, sondern ich würde sagen in allen Chinesen. Und wenn ich an unsere Überseekinese in Wien denke, wo auch viele aus bayerlichen Verhältnissen, wie sie hergekommen sind, nicht lesen und schreiben können und die Töchter und Söhne jetzt Rechtsanwältinnen und Banker und so weiter sind. Also da konnte die EKP auch auf, würde ich sagen, angeborene Eigenschaften des chinesischen Volkes zurückgreifen. Nummer zwei ist die Urbanisierung. Also wir hatten, das muss in den frühen 80er Jahren gewesen sein, mit dem Agrarsoziologen Fei Xiaotong ein langes Gespräch, der damals Vizeparlamentspräsident war und der davon ausgegangen ist, man muss eben schauen, Arbeitsplätze zu schaffen und mit der Zeit also der Landbevölkerung Möglichkeiten zu geben. Und als ich zum ersten Mal in China war, waren 80 Prozent am Land und jetzt sind es nur mehr etwas über 40 Prozent mit einer ständig abnehmenden Zahl. Das dritte ist Infrastruktur. Ich habe auch Bilder von mir vor Augen, also die Kinder in Schandong sind noch gerade herumgelaufen, nicht wie ich 1972 dort gewesen bin und letztlich natürlich und das ist nicht übertragbar wenn man vom chinesischen Modell spricht, es ist der sprichwörtliche Fleiß der Chinesen, der also nicht so leicht auf andere Völker übertragen werden kann. What is the future of China? Of course we want that the whole world does not suffer from poverty and China really achieved that hundreds of millions of people came out from poverty and if you see how long people can live it was before 1949 it was approximately 48 years and now it's more than I think 76 or 78 years. So the population grew and also the lifespan grew enormously and that's a very big success story of course. 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of diplomatic ties between China and Austria. As the bonds between the two sides have become closer, the potential for deeper bilateral exchanges and cooperation has also grown in various fields. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, a group of Austrian diplomats and their families were sent to China to carry out their missions. But for many, China was a remote place to travel to at that time. Dr. Wülter traveled with her parents and siblings to China when she was 14 years old. She recalled it as a fascinating experience to leave the Western world for the first time and see Asia in the 1980s. We arrived as a family in China, in Beijing, on the 8th of August in 1980. And this was a big event for my whole family because my father was appointed Austrian ambassador to the People's Republic of China. was appointed Austrian ambassador to the People's Republic of China. And this was his first post as ambassador, and he was very proud. And for us, we traveled, we had been to, as a diplomat family, we had been to the United States and to Germany, to Sweden, but never to Asia. So this was our first experience to leave the Western world as it were and Asia was fascinating. I was 14 years old in 1980. People were very friendly, very curious because I have two sisters, we had blonde hair and everybody was very kind to us. That was our first impression. And also the China was, everybody wore similar clothes. If you remember it was the early 1980s, they had the blue trousers or green trousers and white blouses that were always very ironed perfectly and everybody was very clean and proper, even though it was so hot. So that was my first impression. It was during this period that the family members made their first attempt to share films. My mother watched films regularly. She started with children's films and then to study Chinese. That was her reason. And then they had the idea, my parents, that it would be very helpful for cultural exchange to show Austrian films in the embassy. And they did that. And for example, the films, the Sisi trilogy, Sisi Gongzhu, was shown in the embassy and then to the people from the Chinese authorities, but also to students and professors of the film academy. And then the film was bought and is a huge success. This particular film Sisi Gongz, is a success to this day. While academic collaboration between the countries was strengthened, cooperation also expanded in areas as diverse as nature reserves. We have the university cooperation and the TV cooperation, and one special partnership is between national parks. So I initiated the cooperation between the most famous Austrian national park, Hohe Tauern, the highest summit in Austria, Großglockner, Dachungshan and Zhangjiajie National Park in China. And that was also established 2005 and we plan next year to go again to Changsha-Jie and also to invite delegation from this fantastic national park of China, Changsha-Jie. As China-Austria cooperation expands in areas including trade and investment, academia, culture and technology, bilateral relations are now pushing forward towards an even more promising era of development. China's past 100 years have seen struggle, sacrifice and achievements. With the continued guidance and moral compass of the CPC, the next 100 years promise even greater successes for the country's people. Well that's it for this edition of Ni Hao Europe. Thank you very much indeed for watching and we hope to see you again soon. Goodbye. Thank you.