(A closer look at China) Xi Jinping "cloud" meets with German and European leaders to clarify the "where to go" of China-EU relations

　　China News Service, Beijing, September 15 (Liang Xiaohui, Huang Yuqin, Li Jingze) After nearly three months, a high-level "cloud diplomacy" meeting was held again between China and Europe.

On the evening of the 14th, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Council, and President of the European Commission von der Lein in Beijing.

　　At a time when the new crown pneumonia epidemic has accelerated the evolution of major changes unseen in a century, and the "where to go" of China-EU relations are attracting attention, this meeting clarified the future development direction of China-EU relations from the macro, meso and micro levels.

China-Europe general trend: 4 persistence

　　During the meeting, Xi Jinping emphasized that China and the EU should have "four persistences": uphold peaceful coexistence, uphold open cooperation, uphold multilateralism, and uphold dialogue and consultation.

　　Xi Jinping said that there is no exactly the same political system model in the world, and the multi-cultural symbiosis of different civilizations is the norm.

If the force of peaceful coexistence between China and Europe is firm, world peace and prosperity will be guaranteed. China and Europe must grasp the mainstream of the cooperation and development of China-EU relations, resolve misunderstandings through dialogue, solve problems through development, and properly manage differences...

　　Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of the China Institute of International Studies, believes that these "four persistences" are based on the current clarification and reorientation of the macro development direction of China-EU relations.

He said that with regard to the positioning of China-EU relations, China proposed in 2013 that there are two major forces, two major markets, and two major civilizations. In 2014, it proposed to jointly build the four major partnerships of "peace, growth, reform, and civilization".

The "4 Persistences" proposed now not only combine the current world situation to re-understand China-EU relations, but also follow the previous understanding in the same line and consistency.

　　Wang Yiwei, director of the Center for European Studies at Renmin University of China, pointed out that the "four persistences" set the direction for the development of China-EU relations in the new era and are of great significance to the peaceful development of the world.

He pointed out that although China and Europe have different systems, they are not "institutional opponents" that some people deliberately believe. China's first emphasis on "peaceful coexistence" is in fact correcting the fallacy, and it also expresses China's positive view of China-EU relations.

And the two sides have a lot of consensus on emphasizing multilateralism, safeguarding the authority of the United Nations, and jointly strengthening global governance.

"The implementation of the '4 Persistences' on both sides will play an important role in promoting the peaceful development of the world."

At the time of the epidemic: coordination and cooperation

　　The new crown pneumonia epidemic is still in a global pandemic. This is the reality faced by countries in the world, including China and Europe. Should China and Europe work together to deal with it, or "separate governance"?

This has become the focus of outside concern.

　　During the meeting, Xi Jinping pointed out that in the next step, the two sides should strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and cooperation, maintain the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and jointly promote the recovery of the world economy.

It is necessary to strengthen vaccine research and development cooperation and strive to make vaccines a universally accessible global public product.

People must be resumed in an orderly manner to facilitate the cross-border movement of goods...

　　Wang Yiwei pointed out that China-EU cooperation has always been very realistic and fundamental.

Especially in the context of the current global economic recession, China will become the only major economy in the world with positive growth this year, and Europe pays more attention to China's economic potential.

The European side cannot realize the complete localization of the industrial chain supply chain for objective reasons. "Therefore, there is a need to cooperate with China in maintaining the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain."

　　Cui Hongjian pointed out that China and Europe have a huge foundation of common interests, which is a prerequisite for strengthening communication and coordination.

"Whether it is multilateralism or dialogue and consultation, these are the valuable experiences China and the EU have adhered to for a long time. As long as these experiences are adhered to and the international situation is correctly judged, the above things can be done."

　　But it is undeniable that there are still some inherent differences between China and the EU, which have also become the focus of the leaders of both sides.

　　For example, on the issue of human rights, Xi Jinping emphasized that there is no universal human rights development path in the world. Human rights protection is not the best, only better.

China does not accept human rights as a "teacher" and opposes "double standards".

China is willing to strengthen exchanges and make common progress with the European side based on the principle of mutual respect.

　　European leaders said that on the issue of human rights, the European side admits that it has problems and hopes to conduct dialogue with China based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, enhance mutual understanding, and properly handle differences and differences.

　　Experts believe that the leaders of the two sides do not shy away from talking about differences, which in itself is a manifestation of strengthening coordination and conducting necessary communication. It can also be seen from the communication on human rights issues that China-EU relations are still running on a healthy track.

Specific cooperation: accelerate promotion

　　During the meeting, the leaders of the two sides also talked about the specific content of China-EU cooperation and expressed that they will accelerate the relevant cooperation process.

　　Xi Jinping said that the two sides should adopt a positive and pragmatic attitude to speed up the negotiation of the China-EU investment agreement, achieve the goal of completing the negotiations within this year, promote the quality and upgrade of cooperation, help the world economic recovery after the epidemic, and jointly maintain an open trade and investment environment.

　　Cui Hongjian pointed out that the China-EU investment agreement involves investment protection and market access, especially when investment forms are changing. The high-level investment agreement reached by China and the EU not only provides better legal and regulatory protection for future investments by both parties, but also provides benefits for the current world. Economic entities strengthen cooperation to provide a good example.

　　Experts also noticed the signing of the "China-EU Geographical Indications Agreement", believing that the large number of protections and high treatment in the agreement is a huge progress in China-EU cooperation and will lay the foundation for negotiations on trade agreements.

　　During the meeting, the leaders of the two sides also noticed the problems in specific cooperation. For example, Xi Jinping said that China pays close attention to the recent trends of the European side in 5G, foreign investment review, government procurement, and competition policy, and hopes that the European side will maintain trade. And the opening up of the investment market, creating an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies

　　Cui Hongjian pointed out that under the influence of certain countries, some European countries have indeed seen some vacillations and changes in the market access of Chinese companies. The "Global Data Security Initiative" proposed by China has systematically demonstrated China's positive stance on this issue. attitude.

"The meeting showed that the two sides are actively negotiating to resolve such issues." This time the two sides proposed to build a high-level dialogue in the digital field. This mechanism will effectively combine Chinese initiatives with European concerns and initiate dialogue and cooperation.

　　"China and the EU are discussing how to further develop specific cooperation in various fields on the basis of ensuring data security, instead of just abandoning it because of the so-called security risks." Cui Hongjian said.

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