Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday encouraged more Swiss people to follow in the footsteps of Swiss journalist Walter Bosshard and visit China to better understand the country and seize the vast opportunities it offers in the new era.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a reception hosted by Swiss Federal Councillor and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in the southern Swiss town of Bellinzona, where he exchanged views with local officials.

Recalling Bosshard's pioneering journey to China in the 1930s, Wang said the Swiss reporter was the first European journalist to visit Yan'an — a city in the northwestern province of Shaanxi that served as the cradle of the Chinese revolution — and interviewed late Chairman Mao Zedong. Bosshard shot a black and white silent documentary, Journey to Yan'an, with a 16mm film camera and recorded his experience traveling from Xi'an, provincial capital, to Yan'an, and what he saw once he got there.

At that time, Wang said, many foreign reports about the CPC were inaccurate. Based on his firsthand experience in Yan'an, Bosshard observed that the CPC, possessing both discipline and ideals, represented China's hope for a brighter future.

China is a country with a long history, and it is also one that is constantly developing, Wang said. "If there is any country in the world that has changed the most and grown the fastest, it must be China."

He noted that China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, formed a middle-income group of nearly 500 million, and is leading 1.4 billion people on the path toward modernization—achievements that present immense opportunities for cooperation.

"We welcome more Swiss friends to become the Bosshards of the new era—to visit China, embrace cooperation, embrace the future, and embrace opportunities," Wang said.