"Several cooperative projects are taking place or to take place in Albania in the areas of infrastructure, finance and people-to-people exchange, etc. For example, Chinese company has invested in Tirana International airport to upgrade the infrastructure. The people�s bank of China has signed bilateral currency swap agreements with State Bank of Albania. The visa application procedure has been simplified in a round way. And as I know, China is also going to set up factories in Albania in manufacturing agricultural machinery," has unveiled Long Jing, the Deputy Director of the Center for European Studies of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).
Ms. Long made those revelations in an exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News before her scheduled visit to Albania as part of a group of scholars by the end of February. �Though this trip is very short, the agenda is quite full,� she revealed.
Dr. Long joined in the SIIS in 2008, after she finished a two-year Sino-French program and got her Ph.D. in International Relationship at East China Normal University. Then she devoted three years in public diplomacy by working in China-United States Exchange Foundation, which was founded and guided by Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, former Hong Kong chief executive. After finishing her tenure in Hong Kong, she worked as Deputy Director of the Department of Research Management and International Exchange in SIIS and then Deputy Director of the Center for European Studies. Her research fields are Sino-European relationship, European Integration, Cooperative mechanism of China and CEECs, Belt and Road Initiative, etc.
Speaking of the SIIS platform and targets, she said that the think tank where she works was initiated by the late outstanding Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai in 1960, who made great contribution to the new-born China�s diplomacy. For the last six decades, SIIS has devoted itself to providing suggestions to the decision makers on foreign policy in China, according to her.
Asked how much the initiatives �16+1� and �One Belt, One Road� influence on the progress of the relations between China and South-Eastern European countries the senior scholar said described the relations as trees glowing for years, with deep roots and strong branches. �We have long-term and very special friendship in the past. The current development of our relations is like fresh flowers blooming on the old trees. countries,� she said. In a comment on the regional situation Dr. Long warned of uncertainty in security, which has been increasing in East Asia, where China is located. �China has been devoted itself to taking the role of stabilizing and mitigating. Japan is one of the most important neighbors of China. We have intensive and extensive economic links and exchanges between the peoples. The political relationship is also hopefully to be improved with some positive signs,� Dr. Long Jing noted in the interview which follows:

- In the first place it is an honor to have your opinions in this exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News, and at the outset would you be so kind to shed some light on the activity and priorities of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies?
- The honor is mine for being interviewed by your distinguished newspaper. Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) is one of the three major think tanks specialized in foreign policy and international relations in China. It was initiated by our later Premier Zhou Enlai in 1960, who made great contribution to the new-born China�s diplomacy. For the last six decades, SIIS has devoted itself to providing suggestions to the decision makers on foreign policy in China. It has also maintained intensive and extensive exchanges and cooperation with research institutions at home and abroad, sharing Chinese researchers� wisdom on international relations. In recent years, our Institutes takes China�s major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, global governance, and regional security architecture building as the priorities of our studies. One of the most influential activities the Institutes hosted was the G20 Think Tank Summit as the side event of G20 Chinese presidency in 2016.

- Dr. Long, what do you know about Albania and Albanians, has your Institute any desk dealing with Albania and its relations with China? By the way, have you ever visited this Balkan country?
- I work in the Center for European Studies at SIIS. The Center has taken China�s relationship with Central and Eastern European countries in the framework of �16+1 Cooperation� as its priority of study since the mechanism was established. We make this decision because we believe the relationship between China and these countries will become new growth points and highlights in China-Europe relations. Personally speaking, I was born after the launching of reform and opening-up in China. If I were not a researcher in this area, I would have had very little knowledge about countries in this region, just like most of Chinese at and below my age. The generation of our parents has very special emotions to those socialist countries in this region because of the news, reports and movies they read and saw when they were young. But this emotion did not pass to the younger generations in the last three decades, which is a pity. I haven�t visited your country yet. But I have the plan to visit it with my colleagues in the end of this February, which I am so looking forward to.

- This is good news as it coincides with this interview. For sure, it will be a nice experience for you. Taking this opportunity, would you be so kind to tell us something on the agenda of your stay in Albania?
- Of course. Though this trip is very short, the agenda is quite full. My colleagues and I will have several meetings with officials from the President�s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will also have some exchanges with research institutions, such as Albania Institute for International Studies. To have field studies of some concrete cooperative projects between Albania and China is also what I expected a lot. Last but not the least, we will also visit some historic sites and museums during the leisure time in order to know more about your country.

- Which is the place of Southeastern Europe in the new policy of China presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in Beijing on October 18�25, 2017?
- The CPC 19th National Congress held last October made an overall retrospect and prospect to China�s development in all the areas, including China�s diplomacy. In summing up China�s past five years of diplomacy, President Xi Jinping pointed out: �We have made all-round efforts in the pursuit of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, thus advancing China�s diplomatic agenda in a comprehensive, multilevel, multifaceted way and creating a favorable external environment for China�s development.� China�s cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe is certainly part of these efforts and achievements.
More precisely speaking, our relationship with Central and Eastern Europe, where Southeastern Europe is covered, has made great contribution in building up a more comprehensive and balanced China-Europe relationship with all-dimensional, multilevel and wide-ranging cooperation. In the past, we have mainly focused on developing the political and economic relationship with the EU and individual European countries. But now, we also attached great importance to the sub-regions in Europe. From Chinese perspective, China�s competitive advantages and experience of growth are more complementary to Central and Eastern Europe�s development needs. Intentions of cooperation can be more easily turn into concrete projects and have demonstration effect to the rest of the world.

- How would you describe the relations of China with South-Eastern European countries and, secondly, how much have the initiatives �16+1� and �One Belt, One Road� influenced on their progress?
- I will describe the relations as trees glowing for years, with deep roots and strong branches. We have long-term and very special friendship in the past. The current development of our relations is like fresh flowers blooming on the old trees. The �16+1� Cooperation mechanism and the Belt and Road Initiative are playing roles like gardeners, providing platforms for frequent communication and funds for projects as nutrient.
Currently, the �16+1� cooperation has entered into its 6th year. The last five years� development has provided a lot of early harvests in trade, investment and people-to-people exchange. For example, more and more agricultural and dairy products can be found in Chinese market thanks to the rapid development of China-Europe freight trains. More and more Chinese tourists can be found in Central and Eastern Europe thanks to the launch of many new direct flights between China and major cities in Central and Eastern Europe. These achievements lead to more understanding and support from Central and Eastern Europe to China�s Belt and Road Initiative. Now all the countries within �16+1� have signed the Belt and Road cooperation documents with China, which makes to Central and Eastern Europe the most supportive region along the Belt and Road.

- As I had the privilege of attending the 'China - CEEC Think Tanks Conference 2017' held in Budapest in November 2017, I was impressed by the deep and comprehensive analysis of Chinese experts and their Southeastern European colleagues on the two sponsored Chinese initiatives. Given what I learned there my impression is that there is an uneven spread of Chinese projects among regional countries. For example, Albania has quite a few. How do you explain this, and in the meantime, does the danger exist that what has been designed as a regional cooperation might turn into a bilateral cooperation between China and certain specific countries?
- First, I don�t think that Albania is a �forgotten corner�. On the contrary, several cooperative projects are taking place or to take place in Albania in the areas of infrastructure, finance and people-to-people exchange, etc. For example, Chinese company has invested in Tirana International airport to upgrade the infrastructure. The people�s bank of China has signed bilateral currency swap agreements with State Bank of Albania. The visa application procedure has been simplified in a round way. And as I know, the China is also going to set up factories in Albania in manufacturing agricultural machinery.
The �16+1� cooperation is implementing under the principle of government support, corporate initiative and market-based operation. This means, most of the cooperative projects are interest-oriented, instead of the old model of providing aids. There are many reasons behind the difference in number and scale of the projects between CEECs, for instance, the market size, the development needs, the investment environment, etc.
The government can no longer force enterprises to do investment overseas. What the government can do is to provide the efficient platforms and better policies to stimulate more concrete cooperation. For example, many customs clearance facilitation measures have been taken under the framework of �16+1 Cooperation� in order to increase CEECs� export of agricultural products to China. The sectoral cooperation is another innovative way to encourage CEE countries to take leading roles in various areas based on their advantages or priorities of development needs. For example, Serbia is the leading country of the China-CEEC association on transport and infrastructure cooperation. Bulgaria is the leading country in China-CEEC Association on Promoting Agricultural Cooperation. Slovenia is taking the leading role in China-CEEC coordination mechanism for forestry cooperation. So does Latvia in the China-CEEC Secretariat on Logistics Cooperation and Romania in China-CEEC Energy Projects Dialogue and Cooperation Center, etc. I am sure, Albania can also find its unique feature and position within this mechanism.

- As a follow up, some EU politicians seem to fear that the robust China-CEEC cooperation would sow discord between EU and its eastern partners. Which is your comment on this argument?
- Yes, indeed. The EU does not take a very positive look at this mechanism. One of their concerns is the possible violation to the economic regulations and social standards they set up for all the member states. The other one is the loss of its attractiveness to CEE countries who haven�t got the EU membership. For the first concern, we can find that China and all the 16 CEE countries emphasized the importance of adhering to the relevant EU laws and regulations in all the guidelines released after the heads� meetings in the last five years. In practice, the implementation of some projects was delayed in order to prevent the violation of the relevant EU regulation. All these are evidences of China�s respect to the EU�s legal framework. For the second concern, China is crystal clear that all the five non-EU countries are putting the EU membership as the priorities of their national strategies. China identifies the �16+1� cooperation as an important component of and beneficial complement to the China-Europe relationship, and will help promote the European integration process and make the development of China-Europe relations more even. The EU�s concern only reflects that the EU is not as confident as once it was, and its policy instruments to the CEECs, either the regional policy or the IPA, are not efficient to help CEECs catch up with those advanced member states.

- The Chinese stance is that CEE countries could play a critical role in infrastructure and connectivity building as well as global production capacity cooperation, thus contributing to the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. Please, can you be more concrete on this aspect, and how solid is the China-EU strategic partnership?
- If we take a look at the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) planed by the EU, we will find most of the infrastructure construction will take place in Central and Eastern Europe, where the current situation is quite under-developed. China has advanced technologies and production capacity in the transportation infrastructure construction. Based on our own experience, we believe that better infrastructure brings more opportunities for development. That�s why we think China and the EU can cooperate in this area by docking the respective strategies. One big progress is the establishment of the EU-China Connectivity Platform. Up to now, two rounds of chairs� meetings and more working group meetings have been held. Lots of work in regulation coordinating, standard converging and project identifying has been done.

- There were some speakers at the Budapest Forum who referred to possibilities that the Initiative '16 + 1' could turn into, how they called it, '16 + 1� and more�. Which is your comment on this supposition?
- During the conference, some participants raised different scenarios of the future of the mechanism. My personal opinion is that, since the mechanism holds the principle of openness and inclusiveness, all these scenarios can exist at the same time based on different projects or areas of cooperation. They are not supposed to conflict with each other. Countries can choose different combinations in order to create opportunities for cooperation. But I don�t think it is necessary to put a label on these combinations, which may lead to politicize or solidify the combination.

-Some Western analysts and even diplomats express fears of China�s efforts to increase its influence in the Western Balkans alerting Brussels of such an attempt. There are some others which add Russia's ambitions to the region. How do you evaluate these claims, and are there, from your point of view, any clashes of interests between your cooperative initiatives and the EU strategy in the Western Balkans?
- The theory of geopolitics was invented in Europe and also once practiced by some major powers in history. Till now, there are still many European people using this way of thinking to judge major countries� behaviors. In China, people take quite critical attitude towards this thinking. We believe all the countries are equal, not matter big or small, strong or weak, and all have rights to develop diplomatic and economic relationship with the other countries. Focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, firstly, China uses the �16+1� cooperation to re-boost the political and economic relationship with CEECs regardless to whom this region �belongs to�. We got positive echoes from CEECs, and the last five years� development of this mechanism is not only promoted by Chinese side. Secondly, China only focuses on economic cooperation and people-to-people exchange, without touching any security issues. Thirdly, in terms of economic cooperation, we hope to make the pie of common interests bigger, instead of taking the others� piece.
The EU�s main strategic objective in the Western Balkans is to strengthen the regional stability, fasten the transition and lead countries in the region the path to enter the EU. All of these objectives do not conflict with China�s relationship with them, which may also contribute to their economic and social development.

-In conclusion, Dr. Long, how would you describe the situation in your region and particularly the relations of China with Japan, an important economic and political country with influence at local but also at international level?
- Uncertainty in security has been increasing in East Asia, where China is located. China has been devoted itself to taking the role of stabilizing and mitigating. Japan is one of the most important neighbors of China. We have intensive and extensive economic links and exchanges between the peoples. The political relationship is also hopefully to be improved with some positive signs. As a scholar, I believe, how to develop a good relationship with our neighboring countries has great significance to China in building up the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.