Consulates drawn to Chengdu

Eight countries have chosen Chengdu to build consulates: the United States, Pakistan, Germany, France, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Photo:Xinhua

By Jia Cheng

Favorable geographical conditions and the successful introduction of foreign capital have helped make Chengdu a popular choice for establishing consulates.

Claudia Spahl, a deputy consul general of Germany in Chengdu, told the Global Times that "Germany's general consulate in Chengdu opened at the end of 2004, and half of European countries will select Chengdu to open consulates if they want to establish a foothold in Sichuan Province. The reason for our choice is that Chengdu, as the capital of Sichuan Province, is centrally located, which is quite convenient to offer help for Germans."

Eight countries have chosen Chengdu to build consulates: the United States, Pakistan, Germany, France, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Chengdu now has the third-most consulates in China, following Shanghai and Guangzhou, and ahead of Chongqing's seven consulates and Shenyang's six.

The US established a general consulate in Chengdu in 1985, but it wasn't until 2000 that others started opening consulates there.

Pakistan set up its consulate in Chengdu in 2007. "Chengdu gives us access to the western part of China, which is contiguous to Pakistan. Besides, it is in Chengdu that Pakistan and China are co-producing JF-17 fighter aircraft," Pakistan's am-bassador to China, Masood Khan, told the Global Times.

"We have chosen Chengdu to be a place for opening our consulate, because Chengdu is an important city. It may be a small city by Chinese standards. But on its own, it is a very dynamic city, which has developed cutting- edge industries. We opened a consulate general there because we want-ed to forge closer ties between Sichuan and Pakistan," Khan added.

Some countries have made the move because of its economic benefits.

"Sri Lanka's consulate in Chengdu, the second Sri Lankan consulate in China, was es-tablished particularly to cater to the promotion of investment, tourism and trade, while providing consular assistance for the populace in the central and western provinces of China," said Poornima Gunasekera, a second secretary at the Sri Lankan embassy.

"The west development strategy built Chengdu's role as a regional center of government, economic investment and culture. Establishing the consulates in Chengdu helps enhance foreign relationships between Chengdu and countries around the world," Su Jingxiang, a vice director of the Center for Globalization Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

According to newssc.net, Chengdu has lured 139 enterprises of the top Fortune 500 companies in the past 10 years, such as Volkswagen AG from Germany, Intel from the US, and HSBC of the UK.