Xi's Polish visit first step towards golden era with China

President Xi Jinping's visit will be the first step towards a "golden era" for Poland and China, says Bogdan Góralczyk, a Polish sinologist and a former Ambassador.

Góralczyk believes bilateral relations will be reinvigorated significantly by the Chinese President's visit to the country, particularly when set against previous state visits between two nations.

One is the formulation of '16+1' cooperation group between sixteen Central and Eastern Europe countries and China, which was officially launched in Warsaw during then Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Poland in 2012.

Also, the birth of China-Poland strategic partnerships came about whilst previous President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski paid an official visit to China in December 2011.

"It is a high time to see the highest representative of the Fifth Generation of the Chinese current leadership to visit Poland, to refresh our cooperation and strategic partnership, especially now, in the era of implementation of the One Belt, One Road Initiative," says Góralczyk, now a professor at the University of Warsaw.

Polish President Andrzej Duda's visit to China last November and his participation in "16 + 1" summit was a political signal of Polish will to enlarge contacts, communication and cooperation with China by the new Polish leadership since 2015: both at presidential and governmental levels.

Poland is also the first CEE country to become the founding member of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China, which is another sign of Polish interest in One Belt, One Road Chinese vision, he says, adding "political will is there and now it's the time to go from words to deeds."

Góralczyk notes that China and Poland have one thing in common, which is both in the "middle".

"China calls herself the Middle Kingdom, while Poland is located exactly in the middle of Europe. We are located in its center point which helps us create a perfect communication hub in all directions," he says.

Building on the railway connections between China's Chengdu and Poland's Lodz, Poland is keen to develop some kind of communication centre in Poland working for the whole European continent. As the country is on the way to Germany and Western Europe, Góralczyk believes that will be an effective factor in that effort.