Six Decades of Ties
with diplomatic relations going back 60 years, China and Morocco have witnessed great progress in bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields during this time. To mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of ties on November 1, Chinafrica reporter Liu Ting recently spoke to Li Li, China’s Ambassador to Morocco, to hear his views on bilateral relations. An edited version of this interview follows:
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-morocco diplomatic relations. What are the highlights in bilateral engagement over the past years?
Li Li: Morocco officially established diplomatic relations with China on November 1, 1958, and thus became the second African country, as well as the second Arab country, to do so. In the past six decades, China-morocco relations have maintained stable development with bilateral cooperation covering various aspects and realms.
The two countries support and help each other, providing an important impetus for each other’s development. For instance, Morocco strongly backed China in the process of China resuming its legal seat in the United Nations in 1971; China dispatched its first medical team to Morocco in 1975; and Morocco’s first Confucius Institute was established in Mohammed V University in 2009.
China-morocco exchanges reached new heights in recent years. In May 2016, Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, paid a state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders signed a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries, a milestone in the bilateral relations. Another achievement from this visit is that Morocco granted Chinese nationals visa exemption treatment, starting June 2016. In this regard, Morocco set a good example, and a number of African countries, including Tunisia, followed suit.
The year 2018 is a big year for both countries with escalated bilateral exchanges on various levels. Cooperation between China and Morocco under the frameworks of the Forum on China-africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the China-arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) is notable. In July, Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita came to China for the Eighth CASCF Ministerial Meeting; two months later, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani came to China for the FOCAC Beijing Summit to deliberate bilateral cooperation prospects, alignment of development strategies, driving regional development and jointly promoting the construction of the community of a shared future for mankind. Looking forward, I believe that China-