Brussels, Beijing must strengthen exchanges

Brussels and Beijing must work to strengthen exchanges and promote mutual understanding, writes Wu Hailong

The third China-Europe high level political parties forum opens soon in Brussels, marking another major event in China-EU relations in 2012. In recent years, China-EU relations have on the whole maintained sound momentum of healthy and stable development with closer exchanges and deeper cooperation. Particularly upon entering 2012, the China-EU relationship has demonstrated thriving dynamism. At the beginning of this year, the two sides successfully held in Beijing the 14th China-EU Summit, which helped identify the future direction and priority in China-EU relations. Last month, the two sides formally launched in Brussels the China-EU high level people-to-people exchange dialogue mechanism, making people-to-people exchange an important “pillar three” in China-EU relations. Not long ago, the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao paid a visit to four European countries, and vice premier Li Keqiang visited the headquarters of the EU. During these visits, the two sides stressed the need to deepen relations between China and Europe through more extensive practical cooperation in an effort to tap the potential of cooperation and to promote the continued growth of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. Currently, the two sides are working very hard to prepare for the high-level political party forum, the success of which would further consolidate and strengthen the active momentum of China-EU relations.

The international situation is going through complicated and profound changes, presenting China and Europe with many similar global challenges and different problems in economic and social development. As we both make adjustment to development strategies and pursue sustainable development, it is essential for China and Europe to actively cooperate with each other to safeguard world peace, stability and development. Such a background makes it both a necessary choice and a rare opportunity for China and Europe to deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership. The two leaderships have shared strong agreement on this agenda by underscoring the importance to explore the present opportunities to achieve new breakthroughs in China- EU ties in four areas.

First, promote political mutual trust. We should stress the political leading role of high-level dialogues and exchanges in our bilateral ties. We must commit ourselves to mutual respect, treat each other as equals, and take steps to increase communication, coordination and cooperation. Second, expand areas of cooperation. We should make full use of our differences in development stages to complement each other with respective strength and focus our attention to strengthen cooperation on urbanization partnership, energy security, green economy, climate change, environment policy, scientific innovation, and academic exchanges. Third, promote people-to-people exchange. We need to further facilitate exchanges between the two peoples under the framework of the China-EU high level people-to-people exchange dialogue mechanism. We should find ways to build better mutual perception, reduce misunderstanding, increase mutual trust, and bring about solid popular support for China-EU ties. Fourth, work for stronger cooperation on global affairs. In the spirit of promoting regional and global peace and security, China and Europe should strengthen coordination and cooperation to jointly meet global challenges in climate change, international financial system reform, counterterrorism, food security, and other international issues.

Strengthening exchanges and cooperation between political parties in China and in Europe is an important part of China-EU relations. The third China-Europe high level political parties forum will build on the experience of the past two successful forums, carry out discussions around the theme of “China and Europe cooperate to meet challenges”, and focus on ways to strengthen cooperation in international issues and in economic, trade and financial areas. There will also be an in-depth exchange of views on the leading roles that parties should play in social development. During the sidelines of the Forum, we will also organise the China-Europe youth politicians dialogue. We believe that through candid and in-depth dialogues and exchanges, this forum will help us increase mutual understanding and trust so that people in China and Europe can better appreciate our respective choice for development paths, political system, and values and ideas. By so doing, we would put in place a stronger basis for the sustained and long-term growth of China-EU relations.

In the remainder of the year, China and Europe will also hold new rounds of high level strategic dialogue, economic and trade dialogue, and the 15th China-EU summit. We believe that these high level exchanges will provide additional momentum to deepen our communication and cooperation across the board and make our comprehensive strategic partnership a fine model for the rest of the international community.

Wu Hailong is China’s ambassador to the European Union

Source: The Parliament magazine