Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to arrive in
Beijing on Monday on an official visit to boost business and political
ties between the rising powers with booming economies, despite
differences over Syria and China’s ethnic Uighur region.
The visit is the first to China in 27 years by a Turkish premier and
follows a February trip by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to Ankara
and Istanbul, where the countries signed deals worth billions of
dollars.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Erdogan brought a delegation of
300 businessmen, seeking more Chinese investment in Turkey and increase
in Turkish exports.
Erdogan said before he left for China that the countries can
cooperate in energy, construction, automotive, banking, information and
telecommunications, according to Xinhua.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Erdogan first stopped in
Urumqi, capital of the far west Xinjiang region, on Sunday. Xinjiang is
home to China’s Uighurs, who are ethnically related to Turks.
Ethnic tensions have led to violence in the region in recent years,
and relations between the countries dipped in 2009 when renewed violence
broke out in Xinjiang and Erdogan described China’s use of overwhelming
force against anti-government protesters as a type of genocide.
But when Xi was in Turkey the two sides sought to downplay any contentious issues.
Xinhua reported that Turkey plans to set up an industrial zone in Xinjiang.
Erdogan was to meet Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday, and President Hu
Jintao on Tuesday. He is also scheduled to travel to Shanghai, China’s
financial centre.
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