On December 12, President Xi Jinping met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

At present, the world is undergoing profound historical changes, and the international situation is becoming more turbulent. As the two major forces promoting multipolarization, the two major markets supporting globalization, and the two major civilizations advocating diversity, the relationship between China and the EU is of strategic significance and global influence, and is related to world peace, stability and prosperity.

The face-to-face exchanges between Chinese and EU leaders have provided direction, blueprint, confidence and impetus for the development of China-EU relations, which will help both sides provide more stability to the world and more impetus for global development.

On December 12, President Xi Jinping met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who came to China for the 7th China-EU Summit at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Two forces share global responsibility

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between China and the EU. Standing at a new starting point in bilateral relations, China-EU relations are showing a good momentum of consolidation and development.

Since the beginning of this year, high-level interactions between China and the EU have been frequent, and President Xi Jinping has met with leaders of many EU countries such as Germany, Hungary and Greece. In April this year, President Xi Jinping held a trilateral meeting between the leaders of China, France and Europe with French Presidents Emmanuel Macron and von der Leyen. The high-level dialogue on strategy, economy and trade, green and digital between China and the EU has also yielded fruitful results.

During the meeting on the 7th, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the good momentum of the development of China-EU relations "meets the interests of both sides and the expectations of the people." Michel and von der Leyen also said that the EU looks forward to developing a long-term, stable, predictable and sustainable relationship with China.

The Bellemon Building, home to the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.

In recent years, some European politicians have one-sidedly emphasized the "adversary" between China and the EU, deliberately ignored the "partnership" between China and the EU, and advocated "de-risking" and "reducing dependence" on China. This erroneous perception of China interferes with the development of China-EU relations, exacerbates misunderstandings and erodes mutual trust.

President Xi Jinping stressed at the meeting on the 7th that China and the EU should "sum up historical experience", "consolidate the political foundation" and "establish a correct understanding". "We can't treat each other as rivals just because we have different systems, we can't reduce cooperation because there is competition, and we can't confront each other because there are differences."

Michel and von der Leyen said that the European side attaches great importance to its relations with China and does not want to decouple from China.

According to French international affairs expert Bruno Gigue, the commonalities between China and the EU far outweigh their differences, and the two sides are both important forces in the global landscape, and there is room for cooperation in tackling many global challenges such as climate change, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the Ukraine crisis.

Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the meeting between the leaders of China and the EU at a critical point in time will increase mutual trust between the two sides and will promote the upward development of Sino-EU relations.

The two markets complement each other and cooperate for a win-win situation

During the meeting on the 7th, President Xi Jinping stressed that China is promoting high-quality development and high-level opening-up, and is willing to regard the EU as a key partner in economic and trade cooperation, a priority partner in scientific and technological cooperation, and a credible partner in industrial and supply chain cooperation, pursuing mutual benefit and win-win results and achieving common development. Michel and von der Leyen expressed the hope that the two sides will continue to strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, green and digital, and work together to maintain the stability and security of the supply chain.

This is a container of the China-Europe freight train taken at the DIT cargo terminal in Duisburg, a city in western Germany, on April 2018, 4.

In Duisburg, Germany's Ruhr region, a former steel factory has been converted into a logistics warehouse in recent years, with China-Europe freight trains transporting containers laden with cargo to the docks that were once full of coal. As a flagship project and iconic brand of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Europe Railway Express has brought abundant goods to the local area and created more jobs.

Thomas Krajniki has been working for Yuxinou Germany for 4 years, where he is responsible for the loading and unloading of goods in overseas warehouses and warehouse consolidation. He told reporters that the new logistics network established by the China-Europe Express is helping Duisburg become an international trade and logistics center. At present, the supply categories on the train are becoming more and more abundant, including household goods, mechanical parts, high value-added electronic products, etc.

As President Xi Jinping said during the meeting, the Belt and Road Initiative is an open platform that has brought tangible benefits to more than 150 countries and people in the world. China is ready to continue to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, including synergy with the EU's Global Gateway initiative.

On February 2022, 2, in the body shop of BMW Brilliance's Shenyang Tiexi Plant, the robotic arm welds the body.

In Shenyang, the sixth-generation BMW Brilliance battery project, with an investment of 100 billion yuan, was officially topped out on November 11, and the main building was completed. In the past two years, the BMW Group has built the world's largest production base in China, and is also committed to building Shenyang into a new energy vehicle industry center, where battery cells, batteries, electric drive systems and electric vehicles are produced.

Over the past 20 years, trade between China and the EU has increased nearly ninefold. China and the EU are each other's second largest trading partners. The scale of economic and trade is constantly expanding, and the quality is also improving day by day. Today, more than a quarter of the products traded between China and the EU are high-tech products, and the trade in green products such as lithium batteries, new energy vehicles, and photovoltaic modules is growing rapidly. During the meeting, President Xi Jinping stressed that the economies of China and the EU are highly complementary, and the two sides should make more additions to tighten the ties of the China-EU community of interests through deeper and broader cooperation.

Milan Nordkovoč, BMW Group's Director in charge of Production, said: "The Chinese market is very strong, dynamic and resilient. Chinese modernization is bringing significant changes to the global market and huge investment opportunities for foreign companies. ”

The two civilizations are open, inclusive, and mutually relevant

During the meeting on the 7th, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China and the EU are "two civilizations advocating diversity" and that "the two sides should also strengthen people-to-people exchanges and facilitate people-to-people exchanges." Since the beginning of this year, President Xi Jinping has successively replied to Greek scholars such as students of the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Hungary, Professor Vilvedakis of the University of Athens, and Dong Bo, a well-known and friendly person in Belgium, to personally promote the dialogue between Chinese and European civilizations and tighten the humanistic and emotional ties between the two sides.

On December 12nd, more than 2 Chinese teachers and students from the official language school in Murcia, Spain came to the Confucius Institute at the University of Malta to participate in the "China Day" activity. Listen to bamboo flute performances, learn Xi tea culture, make moon cakes... During the one-day event, everyone immersed themselves in the colorful Chinese culture.

Among the students, Miguel López has been studying for XiChinese for 3 years, loves erhu, and most wants to go to Yunnan, China, because "there are all kinds of fruits and rich and beautiful music".

López's desire to visit China is now much easier. Not long ago, China announced its decision to expand the scope of unilateral visa-free countries on a trial basis, including Spain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and other European countries.

On September 2022, 9, students attend the opening ceremony of the new school year at the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

Luigi Gambardella, President of the China-Europe Digital Association, believes that simplifying travel procedures for citizens of many European countries is an important signal for China to strengthen cultural and economic ties with Europe, and an important measure to promote global mutual tolerance and understanding. This policy will encourage more Europeans to visit China and experience first-hand the country's rich culture and leading digital technologies.

Josep Gomes, international business development manager at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce in Spain, said that it is expected that personnel exchanges between Europe and China will increase significantly due to China's expansion of visa-free policies. China is a country with great development potential, and it is a market that Europe should pay attention to and continue to explore.

China and the EU are partners, not rivals, and their common interests far outweigh their differences. The sustained and healthy development of China-EU relations will further enhance the stability, constructiveness, reciprocity and global nature of China-EU relations, and make greater contributions to the prosperity and stability of the Eurasian continent and the world.

Director: Ren Weidong

Planner: Ni Siyi, Li Shengjiang, Zou Shengwen

Producer: Feng Junyang, Han Mo

Co-ordinator: Yan Junyan, Sun Hao, Xu Yang

Writer: Kang Yi Zhang Yuan

Reporters: Shan Weiyi, Yu Yetong, Fu Yiming, Tang Ji, Chen Gang, Chen Wenxian, Wang Xiangjiang, Hu Jiaqi, Xie Yuzhi, Meng Dingbo, Chen Zhanjie, Qiao Benxiao

Editors: Qiao Jihong, Wang Yachen, Chen Shan, Xu Xiaolei, Xu Liyu

Photography: Huang Jingwen, Zheng Huansong, Luo Huanhuan, Yang Qing, Verti Otilo

Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency