One of the world’s most powerful men visits Denmark next week. China’s President Hu Jintao is the supreme leader of a country that dominates its region and is influential around the world. A superpower in the making.

Rapid development in China over the past few decades has dragged many hundreds of millions of people out of the abject poverty of the past, and with increasing prosperity fostering better living conditions and greater opportunities for just as many.

At the same time China is increasingly contributing to a solution of the climate issue – one in which China’s strategic choices outweigh that of any other country.

The Middle Kingdom is filled with contradictions that impact on the development of the vast country.

On issues such as respect for human rights, developments in Tibet, enormous social contrasts and the basic protection of workers’ rights, there are major problems. These are not lessened by government conduct that is characterised by extensive corruption and deep distrust between central government in Beijing and authorities in the individual provinces.

It is thought-provoking that in his first public speech after arriving in the United States recently, the blind Chinese dissident pointed to precisely the issue of tension between central government and the provinces as a central issue.

Since 1949, Denmark has maintained a close and friendly relationship with China, most recently demonstrated in the form of a strategic partnership agreement in 2008.

This provides the framework for strengthened political dialogue and increased cooperation in the fields of climate, energy, the environment, research and education. It is a strengthened cooperation that serves the interests of both countries.

At the same time it indicates the binding mutual respect upon which such a kinship rests. But it is not one of moralising sermons emanating more from domestic political agendas than out of honest interest in China.

China and Denmark have different views on issues within the sphere of political dialogue. The visit is a welcome opportunity to discuss these too. An on-going example is that of Syria, where China could play an important role in efforts to stop President Assad’s violations and secure a necessary change in regime.

Critical dialogue is natural among friends who live in the same world. It is also part of a wider agenda in which Denmark and China, despite all their differences, have much in common and can achieve much together.

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