Q: Reports say that China once asked the EU to issue a strongly-worded joint statement in response to US trade policies on the sidelines of the China-EU leaders meeting to be held in Beijing in the middle of this month, but that request was refused by the EU side. What's your comment?
A: This year marks the 15th anniversary of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. During the 20th China-EU Summit to be held in mid-July, leaders of the two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on China-EU relations and major issues of mutual interest. Now the two sides are making intensive preparations, and we will release the relevant information in due course.
As to whether China and the EU will reach consensus or state shared positions on the current circumstances of global trade and investment and related issues, I would like to draw your attention to last week’s China-EU high-level economic and trade dialogue. During the dialogue, the two sides reached important consensus on deepening and expanding China-EU economic and trade cooperation, and on supporting and advancing economic globalization. The two sides agreed on the importance of firmly opposing unilateralism and trade protectionism, promoting economic and trade cooperation with pragmatic measures, and jointly upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system. It is hardly possible to resolve all problems through one single dialogue, yet it is always crucial to act in the spirit of mutual benefit. With that, China-EU cooperation would move forward steadily and contribute positively to the China-EU relations and the changing world.