President Hu Jintao wanted new furniture

China’s President Hu Jintao demanded that all the furniture in the 26th floor Scandinavia Suite at the Radisson Blu hotel where he’s staying for the next couple of nights be replaced before he checked in.

This is according to reports by Seven59.dk, and dr.dk. Hu Jintao arrived in Denmark for an official visit, Thursday. According to our information at the University Post there has, so far, been no pre-announced visit to the University of Copenhagen.

Read a reaction by University of Copenhagen’s Chinese students and PhD students to the state visit here.

Contracts for green technology

According to DR news, the hotel was informed four weeks ago that a top-level VIP would be arriving on the 14 June, but wasn’t told it was one of the world’s most powerful men.

Two of the hotel’s elevators have been reserved for the personal use of the President and his entourage, which includes a number of private chefs and two ‘tasters’ who keep a close eye on the hotel’s fridges and make sure the President isn’t poisoned.

The suite costs DKK 16,500 per night.

DK showered with praise

President Hu Jintao’s visit to Denmark is expected to culminate with multi-billion contracts for the Danish business sector. Contracts worth around DKK 18bn, involving 15 Danish companies, have been drawn up and are ready to be signed in the area of green technology.

Minister for Trade Pia Olsen Dyhr said to DR News that »they need clean energy, clean drinking water, and a well-functioning health system, and these are things that Denmark can supply,« adding that the Chinese expect to overtake the USA as the world’s biggest market for health products by 2015.

Chinese media have showered Denmark with praise in the run-up to President Hu Jintao’s official state visit.

Søvndal poster embarassment

The state-owned news agency, Xinhau News, described Denmark as the ‘world’s pioneer in environment issues’ and claimed that the visit signals a ‘milestone in the historically strong relationship between Denmark and China’.

Only embarrassment before the state visit:

A statement by Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal critical of China from 2009 has been translated into Chinese on posters by radio station 24/7 and posted throughout the capital.

Read a Xinhau News four-page article on Denmark here.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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