Speech bij viering 45 jaar diplomatieke relaties Nederland-China

Toespraak | 18-05-2017 | Jet Bussemaker

Your Excellency, Mr Ambassador,

tegen uw geweldige Nederlands kan mijn Chinese taalvaardigheid helaas niet op.
Dus om misverstanden te voorkomen, houd ik het vandaag op Engels.

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Something special has happened over the past forty-five years.
Two countries that differ in so many ways: in politics in geography, in culture…
One country is 230 times bigger than the other,  and its population is 80 times greater.

But in spite of these differences, a beautiful relationship has grown in many ways over the course of nearly five decades.
Perhaps we can say that opposites attract...
Perhaps recent decades have taught us that size does not matter...

In any case, the fact is that our two countries have grown closer together.
More and more Dutch tourists are traveling to China – and vice versa.
More and more Chinese students are choosing Dutch universities for their studies.
More and more companies from both countries are forging links as trading partners.
And for several weeks now, we in the Netherlands have been hosting two magnificent pandas.
Let me re-assure you: we love them already and we will take very good care of them!

I can speak from personal experience about our mutual bonds.
My first long-term relationship was with a man of Chinese-Indonesian descent.
Thanks to him, I came to love Chinese culture and Chinese food.
As a university lecturer, I also had the privilege of lecturing in China.
And while there, a Chinese friend with Dutch roots – the former diplomat Jaap Sie – showed me parts of China that see few tourists.
And I had the wonderful experience of practicing tai chi exercises in a city park on a quiet Sunday morning, together with dozens of perfect strangers. [knipoog]
I am even more grateful to Jaap Sie for translating some of the greatest works of Dutch literature into Chinese.
Jip and Janneke by Annie M.G. Schmidt, The Assault by Harry Mulisch and Max Havelaar by Multatuli.

In my ‘previous political life’ as the Minister of Sport, I enjoyed attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
I clearly remember the impressive opening ceremony in that beautiful stadium, ‘The Birds Nest’.
A young student, Iris, was appointed to accompany me during the games, and I kept in contact with her for many years afterwards.
She was very up to date on events in the Netherlands: we spoke about the royal wedding of our crown prince – and she even asked questions about Princess Maxima’s family.
Later, as the Minister of Education, I visited Iris again and I even met her parents in their home.

To me, Iris is proof that the Netherlands and China must continue to invest in our wonderful relationship.
In her I saw a new generation of young Chinese people, with greater opportunities than the previous generation, looking with fresh eyes at their nation, its traditions and its history.

And also looking toward the future with an open mind and filled with aspiration.
It goes without saying that China has been developing at a rapid pace, and that the end is nowhere in sight.
This is precisely why it is so vital for the Netherlands to continue to invest in our relationships with young Chinese people.
And for China, it is vital to invest in educating new generations of world citizens and stewards of their country’s values and culture... Education and Culture – the two fields that are closest to my heart.

Of course, I am very proud of the popularity of our vocational education programmes in China.

Chinese students are eager to come the Netherlands – there are currently nearly 9.000 studying here!
Only Germany sends more students to our colleges and universities.

During her last visit to the Netherlands, a Chinese colleague of mine said that she would like to see ALL Chinese students come to our country to study.
It goes without saying that I welcome Chinese students with open arms...
But all of them? That might just be a little bit too much.

In the future, I very much hope that – vice versa – more Dutch students will choose China for an internship, exchange or part-time course.

And I hope that our two governments will come to workable agreements on this issue soon.
Many Dutch institutions already maintain solid relations with colleagues in China – the Mondriaan regional training centre, the Hague University of Applied Sciences,
Delft and Eindhoven Universities of Technology, to name just a few.
The opportunities are there, ready to be taken.

I specifically mentioned Education AND Culture in this regard – because the Arts, Culture and Heritage help us to learn more about ourselves and our place in the world.
This kind of learning is crucial, especially for young people.

It is only right that the Netherlands and China have been collaborating more and more in recent years in the fields of film, museums and the creative industries.
Dutch and Chinese designers and artists have a message to share with each other, and they can lead and learn by example.
New perspectives arise from these exchanges,
new cultural aspects emerge...
new aspects that may even spark of feeling of mutual envy.

I am proud that Dutch creativity always sparks so much interest in China.
In our small country, we always strive to devise innovative solutions to the major issues facing us,
and we often feel that only we have to come up with the right answers.

This often results in spectacular achievements:
Dutch vocational students regularly win awards in competitions such as World Skills.
Our craftspeople are among the best in the world, and that makes me a proud minister.
Needless to say that we strive to solidify that position.
However, our focus on our own creativity can also have a downside:
sometimes we reject external solutions out of hand, saying: ‘Not Invented Here.’

At the same time, I am constantly impressed by the Chinese trait of working as a collective – and I almost feel that Chinese people keep almost no secrets from each other at the personal level.
Few people are so sure of the fact that the best way to get something done is to do it together.

But I am also aware that China is facing great challenges, often leaving little time for creativity.
This is when using solutions devised by others is usually the fastest way to make progress –
despite the fact that much of the world’s progress is based on great Chinese inventions such as paper and printing, or the compass.
And despite the fact that innovation carries such prestige in China, too.

Perhaps this discrepancy conceals the key to Chinese-Dutch relations for the next forty-five years:
promoting a healthy combination of Dutch creativity and pragmatic problem-solving – and the Chinese ambition and courage to adopt workable solutions.

Let us continue to promote encounters and dialogue between Dutch and Chinese young people to create the best possible combination of the two
To enlarge their world, broaden their horizons and deepen their understanding.

The younger generations can even help us to hold an open dialogue about topics that give rise to differences of opinion, even of a fundamental nature, or about topics that simply get lost in translation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Every time I have visited China, the Chinese people have stolen my heart.
I am always struck by their kindness and their humour.

The absolute distance between The Hague and Beijing is 8.000kilometres – about 9 hours of flying time.
The relative distance has shrunk enormously in the last 45 years.
Let us work to shrink it even more in the decades to come.

Thank you.
谢谢