By CGTN’s Dong Luojia

Medieval castles, a tiny but polyglot population, and one of the countries with the highest GDP per capita around the world – these are some of the things that might jump to mind when speaking about Luxembourg. 

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel shared on Wednesday a different perspective about his country during an interview on CGTN's talk show "The Point with Liu Xin," introducing Luxembourg's trade and cultural ties with China.

During his four-day visit, Bettel held separate talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, and the two sides signed several cooperative agreements on finance and aviation. 

The European official also paid a special visit to central China's Henan Province, a longtime partner of Luxembourg in air cargo.

“We started in Zhengzhou with four flights a week, and now there are over 15 flights a week. We also signed an agreement about how we can facilitate travel for people, so there will be facilities also in Zhengzhou to issue visas to go to Europe and Luxembourg,” he said. 

While many other countries are targeting  big Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai for economic opportunities, Bettel has secured a partnership with a lesser developed province.

“China is not just Shanghai and Beijing. In regions like Henan, there are over 100 million inhabitants, and we are so proud we found this partnership. We have a relationship that other countries don’t have,” he noted.

When asked about the role of Luxembourg in China-EU cooperation, Bettel called his country the "capital of Europe," and said that Luxembourg is willing to play an active role in the connection between China and the EU.

The charismatic politician also tackled his personal life, speaking about homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Bettel's husband and First Gentleman of Luxembourg is Gauthier Destenay, a Belgian architect who was seen mingling with the spouses of world leaders last month during the NATO meeting. The two tied the knot in 2015. Most netizens on Chinese social media had positive things to say about Bettel being an openly gay politician, but some found it difficult to accept a leader who is out of the closet.

Bettel said, “Being gay is not a choice. I didn’t wake up in the morning and told myself now you are gay and you must change your life. It’s a fact. I have to accept myself. It’s the most difficult part. It’s not a choice to be gay, it’s a fact. But being against it is a choice".