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

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Swedish Institute (SI) signed the Minutes on Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation in 1983. The two countries exchanged notes on cultural exchange programs regularly in the years after and the latest one was signed in 1998. The major Swedish visits and activities in China since the 1950s are: the Swedish Governmental Cultural Delegation in 1953, the Swedish Royal Ballet Troupe in 1960 (the late Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice-Premier Chen Yi were present at the premiere and met the Troupe), the Swedish delegation of friendly personages from cultural circle in 1974, the Folk Song and Dance Ensemble in 1982, the exhibition of the Swedish shipwreck in 1992, the Roxett Song Group in 1995, the Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra and Song Group ABBA in 1999,Sweden Week(1999) and "G?teborg III" friendly delegation(2002). Cultural activities from the Chinese side include mainly Beijing opera, acrobatics, Chinese folk music, Chinese martial art, folk art, film week, exhibitions of cultural relics, paintings and pictures, among which the most influential ones are: the Exhibition of the Chinese Unearthed Artifacts in 1975, Tianjin Acrobatics Group in 1975 (the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme attended the Premiere), the Tibetan Song and Dance Ensemble in 1978, the Exhibition of Chinese Dinosaur in 1989 and China Festival in 1995 (Queen Silvia attended the opening ceremony) and Shanghai Week (2000),etc. In addition, several Chinese sports teams of table tennis, speed skating and track and field visited Sweden.

Scientific and technological exchanges between the two countries began in the 1970s. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science and the Chinese Academy of Science exchanged visits in 1975 and 1977. China and Sweden established the Mixed Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation at director-general level in 1978 and signed the Protocol on Scientific and Technological Cooperation in 1981. China helped launch the Swedish scientific experimental satellite Freja in 1992. The bilateral scientific and technological cooperation has now been expanded to over 80 programs covering 20 fields such as communication, environmental protection, pharmaceutics, agriculture, forestry and space navigation. Since 1980 the Swedish side has trained about 2000 technicians and managers for China.

Official exchange of students between China and Sweden began in 1964. The educational contacts between the two countries have increased since the 1980s. The Swedish Minister of Education (1980), Head of Higher Education Department (1982) and the Chinese Minister of Education (1983) paid visits to each other. The Chinese National Commission on Education and the Swedish Institute signed the Agreement of Exchanges in 1983. In early 1980s there were totally 120 Chinese students in Sweden and about 20 Swedish students in China. By the end of 1998 both public and self-sponsored Chinese students in Sweden amounted to 2000, while there were about 50 Swedish students in China. The two countries now exchange 20 public financed students every year.

The military exchanges between the two countries started relatively earlier. During the 1950s several groups of the Swedish military officers in the Neutral Nations' Supervisory Commission (NNSC) in DPRK visited China, which marked the beginning of the bilateral military contacts between the two countries. In the 1960s the Head of the Military Order Department of the Swedish Ministry of Defense (1960) and Chinese Chief of the General Staff Peng Shaohui (1963) exchanged visits. The Swedish Army Commander Lieutenant General Almgren visited China in 1979. In the 1980s, there were Swedish Supreme Commander General Lennart Ljung (1982), Swedish Air Commander Lieutenant General Olson, President of the Swedish Defense Institute Major General Rybeck, Army Commander Lieutenant General Bengtsson (1987), Supreme Commander General Bengt Gustafsson (1988), President of the Swedish National Defense College, Major General Renart Nix, (2001), and Supreme Commander General Johan Hederstedt (2002) visited China successively. Swedish Navy Training Ship Karlskrona visits shanghai twice unofficially in 1983 and 1986. The delegation of the Chinese Space Institute (1981), Chinese Deputy Chief of the General Staff Xu Xin (1984) and Deputy Chief of General Staff Qian Shugen visited Sweden (2001).