(By Chinese Embassy in Netherlands)
2006/12/01?
Ambassador Xue Hanqin
November 28, 2006
Mr. Director Chen Gang
Mr. Ren
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen:
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Beijing-Amsterdam
flight routing operation of China Southern Airlines, I wish to
extend my warmest congratulations to the company. Three years ago
when I just arrived at my post as the Chinese Ambassador, I also
attended the ceremony of receiving the first cargo flight of China
Southern to Amsterdam. Being one of the three major international
airlines in China, China Southern, although the youngest, has made
remarkable achievements in the past ten years and has successfully
taken the number-one position in China in 2005 in terms of
passengers, flights, and flight routings.
As a civil aviation company, China Southern, among others, has
witnessed and contributed to three major developments. First, it
has witnessed the fast growing economic development of China that
is more and more integrated with the world economy and a dynamic
and open Chinese society that is more and more linked with the rest
of the world. Today not only the top 500 transnational corporations
have established their business in China, small and medium-sized
companies are also entering China to tap its huge potential market.
With the implementation of our "going global" strategy, an
increasing number of Chinese enterprises are coming out to look for
business opportunities and international cooperation abroad. Last
year, Europe became the Chinese tourist destination and about one
million Chinese tourists came to the continent. As such an
increasing volume of business contacts and people's exchanges was
directly felt by our consular office as visa applications has
increased sharply in recent years, it is no surprise that flights
between China and Europe enjoy a business boom as well. As far as
China Southern is concerned, I am glad to learn that its
passenger's occupancy rate has grown from its early stage of 40.5%
to currently 75.4%.
Secondly, China Southern has witnessed the fast growing
relations between China and the Netherlands. This year the
Netherlands will continue to be our second largest trader partner
among EU countries. Whenever people ask me to explain how come this
small country could do far better than its big neighbors, I would
always point out the airport of Amsterdam and the seaport of
Rotterdam. We are in a country of traders and are learning from
their entrepreneurial spirit. I am happy to read in the local
newspapers that because of trade with China, each Dutch household
saved 300 euro annually, benefiting from the low prices of the
imported Chinese products. Of course, our bilateral relations are
not only about the business and trade. Now we see more delegations,
students, cultural troupes, scholars, and tourists to the
Netherlands. Likewise more Dutch people from various sectors go to
China. As a bridge between our two countries, airline serve
deserves our sincere compliments.
Lastly, the company has witnessed the fast growing development
of Chinese civil aviation. I have been informed recently that the
Chinese civil aviation has become the second largest aviation
transport system in the world, only next to the United States. In
terms of overall turnover of aviation transport, it ranks the
second largest among the states parties of the International Civil
Aviation Organization in 2006; in 2000, it only ranked the 9th. The
whole sector by now has nearly 1000 aircrafts, and 142 airports for
aviation transport. China Southern has made its own contributions
to this commendable achievement.
We all know that international civil aviation nowadays is a very
tough business. Apart from fierce competition, it has to cope with
unstable oil prices, security measures as well as environmental
concerns. Against all odds, China Southern has managed to make
steady progress in the European market. As part of its business
strategy, it has learned from its partners to set up code-sharing
arrangements with other airlines, among which is KLM and ready to
join the sky team for more cooperations. As introduced by Mr. Ren,
there is still large room for further cooperation between the two
airlines. With long established business successes, KLM is both a
strong competitor as well as a desirable partner for China
Southern. To my knowledge, the Schiphol airport is also trying to
enter China's market. I think that China Southern can in a way play
a role to promote the cooperation. Here I am not of course
advocating business match-making, what I want to emphasize is that
our bilateral business relations can be very complimentary and
mutually beneficial.
This year China's economic situation continues to be very
positive. With deepening economic and social reforms under the new
national development plan, I am quite confident that Chinese civil
aviation will achieve even greater successes. Against this
background, I wish China Southern much more good returns in the
next decade.
Thank you again for the kind invitation extended to me and my
staff in the Embassy to this wonderful occasion.
Thank you for your attention.