On Sino-EU ties, media in West miss big picture

It's not a surprise that some Western journalists focus excessively on the differences between China and European nations, since that's the nature of their job. However, it's extremely misleading for them to not present readers and viewers with a balanced and larger picture of the relationship.

All countries have disagreements, including serious ones. It is no different for China and some European countries, from trade and human rights to issues relating to China's Hong Kong and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

But the fact that China and the European Union have maintained more than 70 exchange mechanisms at various levels means that they do have good channels to address differences and expand cooperation.

The 22nd China-EU Summit, the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue, the China-EU High-Level Trade and Economic Dialogue, the 37th China-EU Human Rights Dialogue, and the many rounds of negotiations held this year for a bilateral comprehensive agreement on investment are some examples.

The recent visits to Spain and Greece by Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and trips to Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi a week ago have shown that China is keen on advancing the relationship.

We should expect more high-level exchanges in the coming months.

It is true that some of the thorny issues between China and the EU may exist for a long time to come, but they should not prevent the two sides from pursuing mutually beneficial, win-win cooperation.

That has already been testified to in the 45 years of China-EU diplomatic relations, with the two sides becoming each other's major trade partners.

China and the EU have now become the world's two major forces for upholding multilateralism and globalization amid the United States' rising unilateralism and protectionism.

The world now depends on China and the EU for leadership to address a host of global challenges when the US has not only quit its global leadership role, but has also often become a disruptive force.

Both China and the EU have much to win by cooperating in a wide range of areas such as green economy and digital economy, all of which are top priorities for the new EU leadership.

The pandemic, which has hurt the Chinese economy and caused a recession in the EU, means that they should seize every opportunity to beef up cooperation badly needed for economic recovery, instead of haggling over differences.

The business communities are pinning high hopes on the conclusion of a bilateral investment agreement by the end of this year as pledged by China and the EU leaders.

The good thing is that European leaders are rejecting a dangerous new Cold War and the decoupling peddled by US officials.

Europe was at the forefront of the Cold War and was also the place where two catastrophic world wars broke out. Europeans have no appetite to relive those horrible days.

That is the larger picture that Western news media and some politicians keep missing in their stories.

The author is chief of the China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels, Belgium.