Official Danish visits to China

In 1979, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II made a state visit to China. [Photo courtesy of the Danish Monarchy via cn.kongehuset.dk]

The Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt visited China from September 10-13, 2012. During her visit, the Prime Minister held meetings with the then-premier Wen Jiabao. She also attended the World Economic Forum's "Annual Meeting of the New Giants 2012" in Tianjin and made a speech at the Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC) in Beijing.

The year 2012 was an especially significant year in bilateral relations between Denmark and China and also bore witness to 11 other ministerial visits, such as those by the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Business and Growth and the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

China's economic opening towards the outside world at the end of the 1970s also marked an increase in the official visits of Danish ministers to China. Thus, before 2012 a large number of Danish ministers and many members of parliament had already visited China.

The then-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen visited China in 2010, Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2004 and 2008, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in 2000, Poul Schlüter in 1986 and Anker Jørgensen in 1981.

In 1979, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II made a state visit to China. The Danish Queen was the first western monarch to visit China.

In 1975, a Danish delegation visited China and signed the first trade agreement between Denmark and China. In the following 20 years Denmark and China had a moderate but steadily increasing level of trade.

In 1974, Denmark's then-prime minister Poul Hartling was, as one of the very first Western heads of government, invited on an official visit to the People's Republic of China. During the visit Poul Hartling had meetings with China's leader, Mao Zedong, the then-premier, Zhou Enlai and the then-vice-premier, Deng Xiaoping.

In 1967, Denmark held a large industry exhibition Beijing and in 1972 a Danish industry exhibition was opened by the then-Danish minister of industry, Erling Jensen. In 1973, Denmark's foreign minister at the time, K. B. Andersen, made an official visit to China where he met China's then-premier, Zhou Enlai.