Dutch State Visit to the People's Republic of China: October 25-29, 2015
 

TM King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima have been invited for a State Visit to China in October 2015.

The programme of the visit has been released. However no exact dates are mentioned, though the visit will be in the last week of October.

They will visit Beijing, the province of Shanxi, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Staatsbezoek aan Volksrepubliek China (2) - Het Koninklijk Huis

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In preparation of the coming state visit King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima participated in the meeting 'China in the Netherlands' at the Leiden University today, October 1st:



** anp gallery ** belga ** robinutrecht.photoshelter gallery ** ppe gallery **


** dpp gallery: King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at meeting China in The Netherlands **


** gettyimages/zimbio gallery: King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima Attend Symposium China in the Netherlands **

The State Visit will take place from October 25 to 29 https://twitter.com/rick_evers/statu...46254435102720

Amnesty International is already jumping high and low: the King "must" speak about human rights and "in public" when he is in China. Maybe they forgot the politically responsible Minister of Foreign Affairs (who is part of the delegation), the many, many business leaders, and other members of the extended delegation.

Attacking the minister doesn't get as much media attention as attacking the king does. So I understand that AI does this, to raise attention to the subject. But indeed, their complaint should be adressed to Foreign Affairs, as I am sure they are well aware.

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Accoring to the 'Telegraaf' (largest newspaper of the country), Q. Maxima is our 'secret weapon' in the relations with China. Apparently she was in touch with some Chinese officials during her visit to the country (half a year after the president was here).

Máxima geheim wapen in China|Telegraaf tv nieuws| Telegraaf.nl

The Chinese press will however focus on the state visit of their president to the UK.

https://gpdhome.typepad.com/nieuwsber...bezoek-xi.html

I agree that the nation's elected members of government should be the one to handle these responsibilities and not the King.

Sarcastic advertorial by Amnesty International (see picture)

It reads:

Your Majesty,
Please don't you forget during your visit to China, on a befitting moment, even when it is only between the dessert and the coffee, taking into account all the sensibilities, to issue -in a refined and gentle manner- the Dutch trade interests?

It is a criticism on the King strongly profiling as a promotor of Dutch economy interests and thus probably avoiding "soft topics" as human rights.

I suppose a case can be made in favor of keeping the king away from dicators and despots. The king still has to continue for a few decades. It may be better if they kept his hands as clean as possible. The smiling & beer drinking photos with Putin raised eye brows at the time but esp. after MH17 it is an occassion which came back to haunt the king. At the time many already found it ill-adviced though.

Of course with this logic the king will be barred from meeting half of the world's leaders, among them several co-monarchs from the Middle East.

Accoring to Foreign Affairs they will naturally raise the topic of human rights during the visit. I suppose it will be done behind the screens with the most obscure Chinese diplomat they can find.

The newspaper 'Telegraaf is a Dutch right-wing and populist newspaper, hardly equating all Western media. Catchy headlines and captions to attract readers has been normal in the written press for over a century. I doubt such headlines are limited to the Western world only though. Due to the many online news outlets it is a trend that becomes worse and worse.

I hope we will get to see the Chinese first lady. She is more elegant than most first-ladies/ queens she meets.

You are an optimist Al Bina, I am afraid that the Telegraaf doesn't display tact in most topics they discuss, be that China, Russia or anything else. However, they do have some good reporters. The journalist covering the RF -despite the catchy headline he made- is actually more reasonable than those of some higher quality newspapers and magazines. Esp. the caviar left newspapers often get their facts wrong as they seem to think it is beneath themselves to discuss the royal family in a proper way.

Anyway... the clothing pattern of HM in the few state visits up to now has been a fair amount of new outfits by Dutch designers on the first two days and descending to the usual recycled Natan mess later on. She has some nice gowns by Taminiau and Iversen that can be repeated. However, I would not be surprised if the visit will only see cocktail dresses and no long gowns (Natan is the usual suspect for these dresses too I fear).

Apparently The King, Queen and their daughters arrived before the start of the visit as the girls had a week or so off. According to the hola article ( translated article ), the girls will travel back to Holland today as school starts again and the state visit will start.

The article also mentions that there is about 250 representatives of Dutch companies and about 40 journalists accompanying the royal couple.

I would think the King cares enough about human rights to squeeze it diplomatically into a conversation or a speech as that will have more impact than two ministers talking about it behind closed doors.

What a great fall break for the A princesses!

It was autumn holiday last week. A nice idea to take the girls to China!

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A video message of the king posted by the Dutch consulate in Shanghai. Ni hao!

https://www.facebook.com/DutchCGShanghai?fref=nf

First pics:

ANP Foto ** Belga Image ** Dutch Photo Press: King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima State visit to China day 1

:previous:

Herre are two more galleries of day 1 :flowers:


** robinutrecht.photoshelter gallery ** ppe gallery **

Anyone has the programme of the visit?

all I've seen is this one in Dutch on the official website