3 Feburary 2010, European Parliament

Respected MEPs, Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to participate in this informal dialogue with the European Parliament on China. I would like to thank MEPs Elmar Brok, Reinhard Butikofer and Glyn Ford, Mr. Stanley Crossick and BICCS for your organization.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic relations, and also the beginning of a new decade. Today people are talking about the "post-crisis" and "post-Copenhagen" era. For China and the EU, we are facing new opportunities to strengthen strategic cooperation, such as to promote reforms of the international financial system, ensure a more speedy recovery of the global economy, and address climate change. My friend Pierre Defraigne wrote that in the post-crisis reform process, China and the EU can become members of G3+ in a rule-based multi-polar world. I applaud this strategic vision. I believe that the new decade will be the decade when China continues its peaceful development and the EU continues to gain strength from its integration, and when China-EU strategic partnership will deepen and develop further. However, to turn aspirations into reality, we need to make more efforts, in particular, we need to foster greater understanding and mutual trust.

  

Generally speaking, China-EU relations are developing well. However there are still some gaps in mutual perception or even misunderstanding. With China's rapid development, Europeans’ perception about China keeps changing. Some worry about China's development strategy and direction, wondering that China would repeat the history of great powers seeking hegemony. Some have doubts over China's foreign policy, arguing that China will become increasingly tough and arrogant towards the West. Quite a few people are closely watching the development of China-US relations, some even fear that Europe would be marginalized by G2 or Chimerica. Charles Grant wrote in his recent article that "optimists" like him who hold positive views of China's emergence appear to be fewer than before. Meanwhile, in China, many people are angry that the EU criticizes and attacks China on the issues of democracy and human rights despite the great progress China has made. Some are frustrated that the EU should take advantage of its unique mechanism to maximize benefits at bilateral level while playing bad guy at EU level. Some are disappointed by the EU’s indecision and procrastination in lifting the arms embargo and granting full market economy status to China. Such gaps in mutual-perception, together with the negative moves on the EU side, have affected, to certain extent, the efforts in building greater mutual trust and impeded China-EU relations from moving towards a deeper and higher level.

 

Frankly speaking, I understand why Europeans are so concerned about the rapid development of a big country like China. In history, the rise of great powers are often brutal and bloody. Some completed their capitalist primitive accumulation through colonization and plundering; some expanded sphere of influence and hegemony through militarism and war. The tragic history of colonial people, the endless conflict between major powers, especially the two world wars, have left painful lessons in the history of mankind. Because of this, Europe, as an important actor in that part of history, has a natural psychology to guard against the rise of any big power. The EU integration, started by the joint venture of coal and steel, the two important strategic supplies, was originally purported to effectively prevent the breaking of balance of power and coordination caused by a rising power.

However, I would like to point out that China's peaceful development is different from any other major power in the history.

First of all, We are living in a world totally different from the past. Globalization has led to highly interdependence among countries and peoples. They share gains as well as losses. This non-zero-sum nature is not only reflected in climate change, financial crisis, non-proliferation and other major challenges we are facing, but also in daily contacts and interactions among countries. The human history has never seen such close linkage and solidarity among nations before. This requires that not only China, but also all the countries to follow the path of peaceful development. The various forms of GX over the recent years have given evidence that the time when one or two big countries can make decisions for the whole world is over. Today, no single country can impose its own will upon other countries by using force, nor can it solve global problems by acting alone, or to achieve development and prosperity in isolation. This means China-EU relations must, and can only be one of equal-footed cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win outcome.

 

Secondly, today's China is different from any other country. Jeanne Monet wrote in his memoirs that one needs to be prudent in making conclusions about China. This remark is still true today. China's national conditions make her a special and complex eco-political entity. Some friends notice that last year China surpassed Germany to be the world's largest exporter, but they overlook the fact that China's per capita GDP still ranks after 100th in the world. Some friends see China as the world's second largest consumer of luxury goods, but forget that in China there are still 150 million people living in poverty. To reach the European level of development, we still have a long way to go. As Mr. Deng Xiaoping says, China's modernization still requires hard work of a dozen generations or even dozens of generations.

Thirdly, the more China develops, the more contributions it will make to world peace and stability. The strategy for China's peaceful development is to seize the opportunity of world peace and development to achieve our own development, which in turn will safeguard world peace and promote common development. As the second largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations, China has made unremitting efforts for peaceful settlement of regional hot issues. Since the international financial crisis broke out, China has worked in close cooperation with the international community to respond to crises, and actively participate in the global economic governance. We have made an important contribution to world economic recovery by maintaining sustained and rapid development of the Chinese economy. China has actively involved in international cooperation on climate change, playing a constructive role in reaching the Copenhagen Accord. After the earthquake struck Haiti, China provided relief supplies in the first time, and Chinese rescue team was among the first to arrive in the region. All of these were unimaginable 10 years or 20 years ago. I have no doubt, as China continues to develop, we’ll be able to make greater contributions to world’s peace and development.

In the era of globalization, to develop relations among countries, we not only need to break the political and trade barriers, but also need to break barriers in the mind and mentality. This is especially true for China and Europe, two civilizations so different in historical and cultural traditions, political systems and level of economic development. In history, both China and the EU have experienced stall of growth during the time of economic self-enclosure and political division. The ancient castles in Europe were such symbols in the Middle Ages, until the Great Geographical Discoveries and the Enlightenment movement lit a beacon of hope for Europe. In China, the ban on trade by sea and customs in the Ming and Qing dynasties saw China, an ancient country of 5000 years, gradually decline and eventually reduced to a semi-colonial state within less than 500 years. It was the founding of the People’s Republic of China and over 30 years of opening up and reform that have rejuvenated the Chinese Civilization. And today, we must free ourselves from the old thinking and mentality, and embrace each other with openness, understanding and tolerance. Only by doing so, can we achieve long-term, healthy and stable development of China-EU relations and bring it to a new level in the new decade.

China has taken firm steps in this regard. We embrace the world with an open mind. According to statistics, the foreign language books China translated and published last year accounted for 20% of the total, and sales accounted for 30% of the total sales volume. The United States last year only translated and published seven items of Chinese publications. The Confucius Institutes help to introduce Chinese culture in Europe, and only in France there are as many as 14. The EU also began to realize the importance of communication and understanding. Last year China was invited as main guest of honor to Europalia Arts Festival and the Frankfurt International Book Fair. The European Commission also made very good proposals to promote youth exchanges and increase cooperation in book translation.

The European Parliament, as representative of the European people and public opinion, can play an important role in enhancing understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and Europe. I think today’s informal dialogue is a good form. So too are the "China Week" activities at the European Parliament. In a few days, we will welcome the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Chinese New Year. I hope that China-EU relations, with joint efforts of both sides, will usher in a new year of strong growth. And I wish you all good luck in the Year of Tiger.

Thank you.