III. Exchanges and Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Science & Technology, Education and Military

In 1980, the two countries signed the Program on Cultural Exchange and Cooperation, which was renewed thereafter every three years. Through this program the cultural exchanges between the two countries have increased greatly. China Central Opera House, Dalian Peking Opera Troupe, Shenyang Acrobatic Troupe, Tibetan Song and Dance Troupe, Kun Opera Troupe, Zhejiang Yue Opera Troupe and other major performance groups visited Finland and were received warmly. Also Finnish Ballet Troupe, Sibelius Academy Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Turku paid visits to China. Furthermore, artists from the two countries held two Forbidden City Music Festivals in Beijing in 1996 and 1998. In November 1999, the two Governments signed the Program for Cultural Exchanges from year 2000 to 2004. In October 2000, the Finnish Chamber Music Orchestra, Helsinki Dance Troupe, Puppet Troupe, etc., performed in Beijing to mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties. In 2002, Peking Opera Troupe of China Traditional Opera Academy successfully visited Finland.

In 1986, the two countries signed the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation. Since then, the scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries has made remarkable progress especially in recent years. Some of the scientific and technological projects have proved to be quite successful, such as Beijing-Miyun Winter Water Supply Project, Ice Prevention Project at the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River and Hebei Fur Processing Project.

The Bilateral Agreement on Exchange of Students was signed in 1973, after which the number of students exchanged has increased year by year. In 2002, there were about 1,300 Chinese students in Finland studying various subjects while there were over 160 Finnish students studying in China. In September 2002, Beijing Foreign Language University started to teach Finnish.

Military contacts between the two countries started at the end of 1970s. China established its Military Attache's Office in Finland in 1979, while Finland assigned its first Resident Military Attache to Beijing in 1999. The top Chinese military leaders who visited Finland are: General Zhang Wannian, Chief of General Staff (1993), General Chi Haotian, Minister of National Defense (1995), General Fu Quanyou (1997), Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Wu Quanshu(1999) and General Xu Caihou(2000). Admiral Klenberg, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces (1994), Minister of Defense Mrs. Taina (1997), General Gustav Hagglund, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces (1998), Lieutenant General Korpela, Chief of the General Staff of the Defense Forces (1999) and Chief of the General Staff of the Defense Forces Lieutenant General Hollo (2000) visited China.