"The Chinese know who they are," he says. "They connect with their history but they look to the future with equal confidence. Many in Europe do not find that so easy. When someone there speaks of something a thousand years ago, they may be considered backward-looking."

That's partly because the past is easy to idealize in a way that makes it unreal, he says.

"There is often this idea that Michelangelo and Da Vinci were typical of their times," he says, "but there was only one Michelangelo, one Da Vinci." But in China, with its immense scope, you can play the reverse game with statistics. "Maybe there are 47 million scientists and 47 million people who play the piano," he says. "If one person per 1,000 is extraordinary, that is a powerful pool of resources."

Modern China's rapid growth, of course, gives it a lot to look forward to, he says.

"It's a new world order. It's a privilege to be here to witness the change here and in the world," he says. Coming from a country as small as Croatia, the numbers never cease to amaze him.

"China is the biggest car producer in the world. Beijing has more cars than the population of my country," he says, chuckling.

"At Rijeka, our biggest port in Croatia, we handle about 150,000 containers per year, while at Dalian they process 10 million. There are 400 million-plus people using the Internet here. There is a magnificent system of modern highways.

"Croatia is a medium-sized European country, he says, but Europe is small. As a nation of about 4.5 million people, he says, Croatia "is like a boutique so what we offer must be excellent while China is a vast supermarket".

He hopes China will be involved in a series of big projects in Croatia, including the building of a new airport in Zagreb and high-speed trains that might connect the port of Rijeka with the Hugarian border.

"We have a very deep sea, a great tradition of shipbuilding and big shipyards," he says.

Croatia is proud of its natural beauty and long, rugged coastline, he says, "but we're not just about tourism and making barbecue".