General of People’s Republic of China in Kuching, Fu Jijun while Deputy Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Kuching, Zhang Yang, members of the Sarawak Tourism Board look on during a courtesy call on Fu at the Consulate-General of China Office in Kuching, yesterday. PHOTO: AHMAD ISKANDAR
KUCHING: Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Lee Kim Shin and members of Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) paid a courtesy call on China’s Consul-General in Kuching, Fu Jijun at Consulate General of People’s Republic of China Office here, yesterday. Speaking during the courtesy call, Lee said the purpose of their visit was to express their appreciation to Fu Jijun who will be leaving Kuching today.
“I would like to personally thank him, for his effort in promoting and supporting Sarawak in term of tourism,” he said, adding that Fu Jijun has invited CCTV4 in 2016 to visit various places in Sarawak namely Miri, Kuching, Mulu and Sibu to shoot a documentary on Sarawak and shown in China which gave good publicity on Sarawak.
“We also thank him for his help in talking with the civil aviation of Shenzhen on available time slot for the flight from Shenzhen to Kuching and it is now confirmed that the first flight will arrive around 3am on 27 December which is a daily flight by AirAsia.
“We also try to encourage China Airlines to fly directly to Sarawak and hopefully they will set up their base in Kuching for the long term benefit,” he said. Lee also said that since the state implemented the digital economy it has seen an increase in volume of air cargo services from China.
“As many people order goods online they need planes to bring them in. So the air cargo carrying goods are also increasing.
“Hence, not only tourist arrivals increase but also air cargo services and we hope that our Kuching International Airport will be the hub in the future,” he said. Meanwhi le, Fu Ji jun also expressed his thanks for the continuous support from the Sarawak government. “This is because in the past two years, we have very close cooperation for pushing forward collaboration between China and Sarawak in the tourism, culture and art fields.
“I am very honoured to have the opportunity to work here in Sarawak for two years as we have been a good partner, good friends and also witnessed a number of mutual and beneficial collaborations between China and Sarawak in order to strengthen personal high level exchanges which have increased,” he said. Fu also said that Sarawak was his second home and he felt it difficult to leave Sarawak.
“I love Sarawak for its natural beauty, natural resources, political stability, economic prosperity, racial harmony and delicious fruits and foods,” he said. Fu Jijun also disclosed that China will host its first international import expo from 5 to 10 November, 2018 in Shanghai.
“This means that China is willing to open its market to the world, especially to its neighbouring countries. “Sarawak has a great advantage as it has a lot of products which can be sold to China and welcomed by the China people. “Hence, business people in Sarawak should take the opportunity and sell their products to China,” he said.
