Broader Road for China-EU Relations

President Dewit,
Secretary-General Gupwell,
Madam Shada Islam,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

First of all, I wish to thank the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the European Policy Center and the European Institute for Asian Studies for hosting this seminar. It is the right time to discuss the China-EU relationship following the successful 11th China-EU summit and when the financial crisis is still having its impact on the global economic and political patterns.

Today, I'd like to share with you my personal experience on the Prague summit and raise some questions for your reflection and discussion.

At this moment, I still feel the warmth of the summit. Not only the warmth of the sunny spring in Prague, but also and more importantly, the warmth of the atmosphere between the interlocutors.

The dialogue between Premier Wen Jiabao and President Klaus, President Barroso and Secretary-General Solana was candid, amicable, vibrant and in-depth.

Time was melting away, when the leaders, within a short span of two hours, covered a wide range of issues of common concerns, both bilateral and international, strategic and specific.

What impressed me most, is that all the people involved, both from China and the EU, shared a strong willingness to bring forward the relationship, a growing awareness of the strategic importance of our partnership and a visible readiness to handle issues between us with more comprehensive approaches.

Because of the domestic campaign to control the influenza, Premier Wen Jiabao had to call off his trip to other countries which was scheduled in sequence of the China-EU summit. But he insisted on coming to Prague for the summit, and it took this 66-year-old man 20 hours to fly two-way within one day.

I was moved. What could be more telling, about the importance China attaches to its relations with the EU, the respect China holds for the EU member states and institutions, the sincerity China has in fostering its cooperation with Europe and the responsibility China takes to confront the global challenges in concert with the international community?

The European side reciprocated with equal devotion. President Klaus hosted the meeting, and President Barroso adjusted his itinerary to the EU-Russia summit in Khabarovsk.

During the discourse, both sides reaffirmed support to each other's development on its own path. We highlighted our consensus on building global order and combating financial crisis and climate change, two major challenges with strategic bearings.

We signed three cooperation agreements, on Clean Energy Center, SME cooperation, and Partnership in Science and Technology respectively. We issued a brief but meaningful joint press communiqué, which reiterated our firm commitment to upbringing  the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. I believe, this was a message right in time.

And the summit itself was a symbol right in time. Against the background that the international situation and our bilateral relations were undergoing some changes, the resumption of the 11th China-EU summit carried special and important political significance. It helps to rebuild and strengthen political trust and chart the course jointly of our future cooperation.

Now the Prague summit is already history. But the questions about the China-EU relations that kept my mind busy do not fade away. Those are the questions related to the fundamentals of our relationship. People may have different answers to these questions, and there would be no standard answers. Here, I wish to present three questions, and I hope they will provide you some clues and perspectives with respect to our relationship.

The first question: How do we define the China-EU relationship?

I know there were debates recently. Some scholars from Europe and America say it is "derivative", whereas some Chinese analysts say it is "asymmetric". And particularly following the twists and turns last year, quite a number of Europeans became dubious of the comprehensive and strategic nature of our relations.

In my view, a logical and accurate definition of our relationship must be based on a macro, global and strategic point of view. Otherwise, it'll be fragmented and even erroneous.

In China, there's a fable story about three blind people touching an elephant. As they never see an elephant before, the one who touches the elephant's ear says the elephant is a fan, the one touching the leg believes it is a pillar, and the one touching the tail claimes it is a rope.

It's no exaggeration to say that China-EU relationship is an elephant. Because China is the biggest developing country with one fifth of the world's population, while the EU is the biggest group of developed countries with the most sophisticated decision-making mechanism. Such uniqueness and complexity of China and of the EU makes our relationship unique and complex.

Furthermore, over the past 30 years and more, new dimensions were constantly added to our relationship, and our cooperation has become ever more deep-going. 

Therefore, making an overall judgment of our relationship on the basis of one area, one perspective or one period of time is like sketching the image of elephant by the blind people.

In this connection, I would propose three transcendances for making a proper definition.

First, let us transcend the specific issues. Because the discordances over specific issues do not deny our mainstream commonalities on cooperation.

Secondly, let us transcend the time frame. Because temporary fluctuations in our relationship do not divert its historical trend towards strength and growth.

Thirdly, let us transcend the bilateral scope. Because no matter how the world evolves, the global influence of our relationship will not be diluted. And we need to study it with a historical and dynamic vision.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made a thorough explanation of our comprehensive and strategic partnership during his first visit to the EU headquarters in 2004. During the Prague summit, he further examined our partnership, saying that the core is its strategic nature, the content is comprehensive, and the key is to follow the world trend.

Being strategic, we should view the relationship from long-term and strategic angle, not to be swayed by particular issues in particular time; Being comprehensive, we should strengthen our cooperation in all fields; Being partners, we should respect each other as equals, work for mutual benefit and accommodate the other's major concerns. His interpretation serves a guiding reference for our understanding of the China-EU comprehensive and strategic partnership.

The second question: Is our relationship a win-win relationship? 

Two of the world's most important developments in the last three decades have been the peaceful development of China and the integration of the European Union. China is always a supporter of EU's integration process and China weclomes a more active and constructive role of EU in world affairs. On the part of Europe, as President Barroso says, the EU supports China's reform and opening-up process through its own policies and actions. China and the EU are now indispensable partners to each other on the road of development. Such relationship not only brings more tangible benefits to our people, but also contributes to world peace and development.

Recently, the global financial and economic crisis have brought difficulties to Europe. While people are more optimistic about China's economy, questions have also been raised on what a country China will become. Some doubt whether China-EU relationship is really mutually beneficial. Some claim that the EU have more to lose than to gain from China and propose more reciprocity in our relationship. One case they will often mention is the trade imbalance.  

Let me share with you some facts and figures. From 1975 to 1998, China was running deficit in trade with Europe. That is to say, in the past 34 years since we set up diplomatic relations, China had deficit for 23 years and surplus for 11 years.

In 2008, the EU's deficit accounted for 37.6% of the total trade. Back in 1985, China's deficit was at 46.2%.

In 1978, when China and the EC began negotiating the trade agreement, the Chinese side proposed a self-balancing mechanism to reduce China's deficit. It was declined by the European side.

In 2007, at the 10th China-EU Summit, China initiated a high-level economic and trade dialogue mechanism. Two rounds were held since then, which contributed to a more balanced development of our economic and trade relations.

While China was also deeply hit by the financial crisis, the Chinese government sent a delegation to some European countries in January to promote trade and investment. They signed 13 billion U.S. dollars procurement contracts. Very soon, another delegation will come.

I'd like to point out here, that mutual benefit and win-win cooperation should not just stop at economic relations. It should also apply to political relations.

In this respect, the most choking question for me is why the EU maintains its arms embargo against China, which is an absurd political descrimination against a strategic partner. Why is the EU reluctant to recognize China's market economy status, despite of China's tremendous achievements in building a market economy. These questions have been bewildering me, my colleagues and many ordinary Chinese citizens.

No doubt, we are willing to make joint efforts with the EU to further expand and deepen our economic cooperation and trade. But to make it equally and mutually beneficial, more work need to be done, by both sides and more by the European side.

The third question: What is the driving force of our relationship? 

China and Europe are so different, but we managed to maintain a robust relationship. It is the common interests that have bound us together and pushed our relationship going forward.

In the seventies of last century, we were caught in the middle between the superpowers vying for hegemony. The common interest of national survival and development brought us to the establishment of diplomatic relations.

After the Cold War, the common interest in maintaining world peace and development and adapting to globalization was well served by China's support to European integration and the EU's support to China's reform and opening up.

In the 21st century, particularly in face of the ongoing crisis, what is our common interest? Will it once again drive our relationship through the turbulent international environment? 

I would like to invite you to read carefully joint press communique of the 11th summit. It is quite brief, consisting of 500 English words or 800 Chinese characters only. Some people say it is too short, and not rich in substance. But I don't think more words carry more weight. The joint communique between China and France on the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1964 has only 44 Chinese characters, but it was a diplomatic "nuclear bomb" in those days.

The communique of this summit sends out a strong political signal. It testifies our commitment to the further development of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and reiterates the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual trust, reciprocity and win-win cooperation. It also identifies our common interests under the current circumstances, that is, to promote peace, stability, security, prosperity and sustainable development in the world, peaceful resolution of disputes by means of dialogue, effective multilateralism and the role of the United Nations. And working hand in hand to address the financial crisis, climate change and other global challenges. 

Some people worry about our relations because they are concerned about the so-called G2. I think such worry is unnecessary. 

China has no ambition to rule the world. China was a victim of hegemony and power politics. What we don't like ourselves, we don't force it onto other people. We will never pursue hegemony, even if we grow strong. Our independent foreign policy of peace will not change. Our mutually beneficial and win-win strategy of opening-up will not change. 

China has no strength to rule the world. Despite all our progress, China is still a developing country. It will take generations of hard work to solve our own problems and realize modernization.

Furthermore, China does not see G2 conforming to the historical trend. As Premier Wen said, one or two countries or a group of  powers can not solve all the problems of the world. Multipolarity and multilateralism is where we are heading for, as it serves the aspiration of the people in the world. 

In this sense, the more China and the EU develop, the more interest and responsibility we share in world peace and prosperity. And we'll be more capable to combat the financial crisis, climate change and other global challenges. The driving force of our relationship will be stronger, and the road of cooperation will be broader. I am confident that China-EU relations will greet a better future.

Thank you.