Special Report: Jia Qinglin Visits Four European Countries

    BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, visits Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia from May4 to May 16.

    The visit is of vital importance for China's key diplomatic activities this year. It is aimed at strengthening high level exchanges between China and the four European countries, promoting China's bilateral ties with those countries, and boosting the sustained and sound development of Sino-Europe relations.

    Following is a brief introduction to Croatia and its bilateral relations with China.

    Located on central south Europe, Croatia is bound by Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, and the Adriatic Sea to the west and southwest. It has an area of 56,538 square km.

    Croatia has two distinct climatic regions with a Mediterranean climate along the Adriatic coast which is characterized by short mild winters and long warm summers.

    The Croats, the leading ethnic majority in the nation, account for 78 percent of the 4.5-million population. Other ethnic minorities include Magyars or Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Ukrainians and Italians.

    The official language is Croatian with a Latin alphabet. Serbo-Croatian is basically the same language with some minor differences reflecting religious and cultural characteristics between the Croats and Serbs. German is also widely understood.

    Croatia established diplomatic relations with China on May 13, 1992. Since then, the two countries have witnessed a smooth development of bilateral relations and frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries.

    In 2005, China and Croatia established an all-round cooperative partnership. In 2006, trade volume of the two countries reached 930 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 51.2 percent over the same period of previous year.