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Home Lao Chinese Partners

China, Europe vow to deepen cooperation, promote multilateralism in post-epidemic era

ATHENS (Xinhua) -- As China and the European Union (EU) celebrate 45 years of relations this year, the two sides vow to expand bilateral trade and investment, deepen cooperation on post-epidemic economic recovery and promote multilateralism during the recent back-to-back European visits by two top Chinese foreign policy officials.
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee visited Spain and Greece on Sept. 3-4, closely following Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s trip to five other European countries which concluded on September 1.

Chairman of Italian Red Cross Francesco Rocca (6th right, back) poses for photos with members of Chinese aid team at Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy.

At a time when Europe is tamping down a resurge of COVID-19 infections, jointly fighting the pandemic and seeking recovery in the post-epidemic era is a common issue discussed at the meetings the two Chinese officials held separately with leaders and high-level officials from the seven European countries.
Cooperation is the way they all agreed to. China has shown its spirit of cooperation and solidarity during the past months when it mobilised large quantities of medical supplies and rushed to some European countries’ aid to fight the virus.
During their respective meeting with Yang, both Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked China for its assistance and support in their fight against COVID-19, saying that such deeds helped strengthen bilateral relations.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio also expressed his gratitude for China’s help during a meeting with Wang.
Looking forward, cooperation should be intensified, Sebastian Carlens, deputy editor-in-chief of German daily newspaper junge Welt, told Xinhua on Friday.
“The recovery of the Chinese economy also offers the rest of the world opportunities to overcome the economic consequences of the lockdown more quickly,” Carlens said.
Close cooperation with China is important for Germany and other EU states, he continued, warning that European states “would be doing each other a disservice if they took part in a confrontation against China.”
Leaders and high-level officials of the seven European countries also expressed similar views on future cooperation. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed the hope to deepen cooperation in such fields as economy, trade and humanities, vaccine cooperation; Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis confirmed Greece’s interest in strengthening cooperation especially in investment, trade and tourism; The Dutch Foreign Ministry said that the two countries need each other for sustainable recovery of the economy after the COVID-19 crisis.
In the Netherlands and Norway, besides the ongoing preventive measures, officials have already turned their attention to post-pandemic collaboration with China.
Xulio Rios, director of the Chinese Policy Observatory in Spain, told Xinhua on Thursday that Yang’s visit has been a very important initiative for strengthening bilateral relations and given the importance of China as a partner for Spain, it helped reduce uncertainty in the context of the pandemic.
“Given that the pandemic has affected vital sectors of the relationship, from trade to tourism or investment, the visit highlights the interest of both parties to relaunch these areas of cooperation,” Rios said. Greek enterprises have also expressed a strong wish to improve ties with their Chinese counterparts.
“Upon the announcement of this important high-level interaction, many expectations were created for further development in business and investments,” George Xiradakis, managing director of XRTC Business Consultants and vice president of the Hellenic Chinese Chamber, told Xinhua on Friday.
The Greek business community “from the very beginning has been in favor of the widest possible win-win business partnerships between our two countries and proves daily its support in practice,” commented Fotis Provatas, Chairman of the Chamber of Greek-Chinese Economic Cooperation.

 


(Latest Update
September 7
, 2020
)


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