Bilateral relations between China and Denmark, which have long enjoyed warm ties, have undergone further positive developments in recent months backed by a number of high level visits from both sides.
The outcome is that the Sino-Danish relationship is resurging, with a focus on boosting two-way trade, investment and business, and strengthening existing cultural and educational exchanges, with mutual respect for strategic policies.
Top visits
Recent developments include the official visit of Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt to China this week, which followed close on the heels of the state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to Denmark in June, the first ever such visit by a Chinese head of state to this Nordic nation.
At the invitation of Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her husband Prince Consort Henrik, Hu made the historic visit, which raised the two countries' relationship to a record high.
These top visits mark the culmination of rejuvenated bilateral contact in recent years, which led in 2008 to the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, covering economic, political, cultural and various affairs.
Denmark and China established the comprehensive strategic partnership during former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to China in October 2008, a document that has since formed the framework for Sino-Danish cooperation. Denmark is the only Nordic country, and one among a handful of European nations, to sign such a partnership with China.
In June, Hu told Thorning-Schmidt that his visit was "an embodiment of the high attention we attach to China-Denmark relations."
He added that the visit would improve bilateral understanding and push forward the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership.
President Hu's visit also resulted in the signing of 17 agreements, and deals worth around 3.4 billion US dollars between Chinese and Danish companies in sectors such as renewable energy technologies, ports services, and dairy products.
Denmark has had an unbroken diplomatic presence in China since 1908, and was one of the first Western countries to recognize diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China over 62 years ago. Queen Margrethe II made a state visit to China in 1979, the first such by a western monarch.
The formal consultation and dialogue mechanism established between the two countries' governments continues to enable close communication from both sides in bilateral and multilateral affairs, and on issues of political, economic and strategic relevance.
Economic focus
Thorning-Schmidt's official visit to China, which ran from Monday to Thursday, has been expected to deepen commercial ties by making a case for more Danish exports to China and more bilateral investment, not least attracting Chinese companies to Denmark.
The economic focus of Thorning-Schmidt's trip was made clear given that she was accompanied by nearly a dozen CEOs of Denmark's biggest companies, including wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas, brewer Carlsberg, and temperature-control systems maker Danfoss.
Danish exporters have been hurt by a drop in demand in their traditional destination markets in the EU, due to the ongoing debt crisis. However, demand from the vast Chinese market has helped to compensate, and is expected to remain a growth area for Danish exports.
China now ranks amongst Denmark's biggest markets outside the EU, and the share of Danish exports to China and Hong Kong has risen 50 percent since 2008, the Danish Trade Ministry said.
Danish exports to China were worth 15.1 billion Danish kroner (around 2.7 billion dollars) in 2011, and rose 12 percent in the first six months of 2012 alone, the ministry added.
According to official Chinese statistics, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Denmark increased 18.3 percent in 2011, as compared to the previous year, to reach 9.26 billion dollars. Meanwhile, Denmark has invested in 718 projects in China, with paid-in investment of 2.16 billion dollars.
Multinational Danish corporations, such as pharmaceutical maker Novo Nordisk, industrial enzyme maker Novozymes, and shipping and oil company Maersk, are established players in the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies such as shipping giant Cosco, electronics company Huawei and gene-sequencing facility BGI have established branches, research and development facilities in Denmark.
"I think the Chinese-Danish relationship is excellent, and now I am going to China to deepen our relationship because I believe that it can be an advantage for both China and Denmark," Thorning-Schmidt said to Xinhua ahead of her China visit.
Pragmatic cooperation
Experts here say Sino-Danish technical and commercial cooperation in the green energy sector, on climate-related industries, clean water solutions, food safety and agricultural products remain key areas for growing cooperation between the two countries.
Moreover, Denmark's competence in renewable energy technologies such as biofuels and wind-turbine manufacture, as well as in waste and water management, energy efficient devices, agricultural production, food safety standards, and in welfare areas such as elderly care, are relevant to the needs of the Chinese market.
These sectors have taken on added relevance for China as it actively implements its ongoing 12th Five-Year Plan, which focuses on transforming the nation's economic development pattern so as to put it on the path to sustainable growth at a faster pace.
On the investment side, Denmark is hoping to brand itself to Chinese investors and companies as a gateway to the wealthy and sophisticated European market.
In a visit earlier September, Danish Trade and Investment Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr addressed a Chinese trade ministry investment conference in Xiamen, and attended a meeting in the Danish-Chinese Joint Committee during the trip.
Chaired at the ministerial level for the first time, the meeting was testament to strengthening Sino-Danish ties.
Dyhr has met with her Chinese counterpart, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, four times in the past ten months. In mid-September, she met also with Yan Junqi, Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, to discuss inter-governmental relations.
In another recent bilateral exchange, Danish Minister for Business and Growth Ole Sohn visited China to discuss cooperation on shipping-industry issues, tourism and patent protection.
Meanwhile, China's Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu visited Denmark earlier this month, where he met his Danish counterparts and visited Danish dairy giant Arla's head office in Viby, eastern Denmark.
In June, Arla signed a cooperation agreement with China's largest dairy, Mengniu Dairy Group, to create a knowledge center on milk and dairy production, the so-called China-Denmark Milk Technology and Cooperation Center, in Beijing. The center is scheduled to be inaugurated in November, when Danish Minister for Food Products, Agriculture and Fisheries Mette Gjerskov visits China.
In May, the Danish government launched an export-boosting strategy for the BRIC economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China - and other key emerging markets, and a specific export strategy for China.
The China strategy prioritizes those areas where Denmark enjoys competitive advantages in tackling issues including water and environment solutions, energy and climate, health and welfare technology.
Cultural gains
Beyond economy and industry, culture is also playing a vital part in bringing the two countries together, despite differences in language and history.
Highlights in cultural exchange include the exhibiting of the statue of the Little Mermaid, Denmark's most recognizable national symbol, at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, and musical and dance performances by Chinese artists in Denmark on special occasions such as Chinese New Year.
Moreover, Chinese language and culture are becoming increasingly popular in Denmark, and Chinese is now offered as a second language at many Danish primary and high schools.
Chinese language training and general awareness of China has grown by the establishment of the Copenhagen Business Confucius Institute at Copenhagen Business School in 2008, and Confucius Institute for Innovation & Learning at Aalborg University in 2009, which were set up in association with Renmin University of China and Beijing Normal University respectively.
"I believe friendship is based on trade with each other but also cultural exchange, and this is exactly what we are doing," Thorning-Schmidt told Xinhua ahead of her trip to China this week.
Following a bilateral agreement signed in April 2010, eight Danish universities have worked with the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish the Sino-Danish university center in Beijing to conduct research in water and environment, renewable energy, nano-science, life sciences, and social sciences.
The center accepted its first students in September, and Thorning-Schmidt made a speech to the students during her China trip this week.
Under the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership, as the outcome of the Sino-Danish university center, a Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research in Beijing, which will attract the best researchers in various fields from Denmark and China, is to be fully operational in March 2013.
During Hu's visit, the two countries also agreed to strengthen mutual support for cultural centers in Copenhagen and Beijing, establish formal cooperation between Danish and Chinese museums for exchange of artifacts, exhibitions and best practices, and to establish the world's first Music Confucius Institute at the Royal Danish Music Academy.