Finland Times

"China is now in the process of taking a bigger role in international politics. I think it is a very good thing," said Speaker of Finnish Parliament Eero Heinäluoma, who had just arrived in Helsinki from the UN General Assembly in New York.

"It's important that China is economically bigger and bigger, and it will also take its position in international politics," he said, "and we will have a balanced international system when everybody is involved and everybody has a word to say."

Heinäluoma made the remarks on eve of the 64th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Congratulating the Chinese for this national festival, Heinäluoma  said it was also an important event for the history of mankind, as recent decades have witnessed remarkable development in China, home of the biggest population in the world.

Recalling his visit to Beijing in June, Heinäluoma told Xinhua that he was impressed by the "landmark achievements in the country and the responsible way to achieve the new goals set by the Chinese government and the ruling party."

His visit came after President Sauli Niinisto's trip to China in April and before Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen's in early September.

The successive trips to China paid by high ranking Finnish officials upgraded the bilateral partnership and explored new cooperation in export and investment.

Recognizing this year as a concrete example of the correlations, Heinäluoma said there are a lot of more possibilities especially in the clean technology, which is something Finland is promoting, for the two countries to work on.

"We have expertise and we know that your country is interested in clean technology and it is one of the big aims of the government to combine the growth and environmental needs," he told Xinhua.

Echoing Heinäluoma 's comments, Chinese Embassador to Finland Huang Xing believed that his nation's determination reached a new level last year, when building of eco-civilization was officially adopted as a national priority.

"This reflects an important progress in China's understanding of development and China's determination to change the development mode from mere focus on the speed of GDP growth to the quality of GDP," he said on occasion of the celebration of the national day.

"This will not be 'an armchair strategist'," he emphasized.