Chinese Premier Li Qiang to visit Switzerland

Li Qiang is also attending this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Keystone / Yasuyoshi Chiba

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will meet Defence Minister Viola Amherd, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, in the Swiss capital Bern on Monday. He will be received with military honours.

During the official visit, talks will take place between the Chinese and Swiss delegations. The defence ministry declined to comment on the content of the talks when asked by the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA.

Li Qiang, who has only been in office since March, is also attending this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

Switzerland and the People’s Republic of China have maintained bilateral relations since 1950, which according to the foreign ministry are “good and diverse”. Since 2010, China has been Switzerland’s most important trading partner in Asia and its third most important trading partner after the EU and the US.

+ Swiss government reconsiders stance on China

In March 2021, the Swiss government adopted a China strategy to strengthen the coherence of Swiss policy towards China. It sets out the objectives and measures of Switzerland’s China policy for the years 2021 to 2024 and, according to the foreign ministry, defines these along the foreign policy priorities of peace and human rights, prosperity, sustainability and digitalisation.

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