China's top legislator meets with Finnish PM

Zhao Leji, China's top legislator, met with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Tuesday in Beijing.

Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said Finland was among the first Western countries to recognize and establish diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, and that the two countries have always gotten along well with each other in the spirit of mutual respect and trust.

He pointed to the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in 2024 on deepening their future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership.

China is ready to work with Finland to enhance political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and expand cultural and people-to-people exchange to promote the stable and enduring development of bilateral ties, Zhao said.

The NPC is willing to deepen exchange and cooperation with the Finnish parliament to facilitate mutual learning of experience in legislation, supervision and state governance and provide legal guarantee for pragmatic cooperation in various fields, he added.

Noting that Finland-China relations have enjoyed longstanding, stable development, Orpo said Finland upholds the one-China policy and is willing to deepen cooperation with China in such fields as economy, trade and innovation, and to strengthen exchange between their legislative bodies.