"I have been deeply convinced that China is taking a very good development path, which is also proven by the ongoing political sessions in Beijing," Juergen Roters, mayor of Cologne, Germany's fourth-largest city, told Xinhua Thursday in a tourism fair in Berlin.
Roters said he is paying close attention to the two ongoing political sessions in Beijing, referring to the 2013 annual sessions of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) and the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
"I know from the two sessions about the priorities of China's future development," he said, "The Chinese government was determined to lay more emphasis on protecting the environment and improving people's living standards, and to try to gradually narrow the gap between the urban and rural areas."
"Considering China is such a big country with a huge population, these issues are indeed great challenges for China's new leadership," Roters said, "But I do believe China can overcome them."
Cologne and Beijing are sister cities. As the mayor of a large German city, Roters had a special experience in his relations with China.
Roters led a big economic and cultural delegation to attend the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
In order to learn more about China, he went to take crowded subways, chatted with taxi drivers and jogged along the bank of the Huangpu River. All of these experiences helped him eliminate his prejudice against China, and went back with positive impressions about the country.
Roters said seriously that people in Germany do not fully understand China's political and social situations. Every country has its own national conditions and a path of development.
"We should show respect for China, which has chosen a developing path according to its own national conditions. We should not make indiscreet remarks or criticisms about it, because there is no universal standard that suits every country," he said.
Roters said Cologne is willing to share experience with China in urban construction and planning, the urbanization process, balanced development between large a city and its surrounding areas, environment protection, and how to let the majority of people understand the government's policies and participate in decision-making.
Roters also talked about a series of events of the "China Year" that were successfully held in Cologne last year.
Over 150 exchange activities that won popular support from the local people played a significant role for Cologne's citizens in learning more about China and eliminating their prejudice, he said.
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