20th China-EU Summit marks a new era for Sino-European cooperation

On Monday, leaders of the European Union, represented by Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing for the 20th China-EU Summit, an essential platform for discussing current and future Sino-European relations.

Many topics were discussed at this historic summit, which also marks the 15th anniversary of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Fruitful outcomes have been achieved in politics, trade, economy, culture and people-to-people exchanges in the past 15 years.

Reflecting on previous achievements, the leaders of both sides reiterated their commitment for deepened cooperation while implementing the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation.

Premier Li affirmed that upholding multilateralism and building a multipolar world, as well as greater democracy in international relations, is crucial in a complicated international landscape.

The two sides should not only safeguard free trade and further contribute to global peace, they also need to strengthen the momentum of recovery to prevent the stagnation of the global economy. China and the EU have the responsibility to deepen the rules of globalization and fight against protectionism.

“It is a common duty of Europe and China, America and Russia, not to destroy this order, but to improve it; not to start trade wars, which turned into hot conflicts so often in our history, but to bravely and responsibly reform the rules-based international order,” Tusk said.

The successful joint statement dealt with foreign policy, namely their support for a peaceful solution to the question of the Korean Peninsula and their support for a peaceful two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. It also covered issues related to migration, people-to-people exchanges and both sides’ joint efforts in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Not only were the above mentioned topics significantly dealt with, the 20th China-EU Summit also produced the EU-China Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy. Besides reaffirming their strong support for the historic 2015 Paris Agreement and for other symbolic initiatives to flight climate change, China and the EU aim to work toward practical ways to deal with the climate issue.

Concrete bilateral cooperation has been discussed. This includes a clear framework for long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies, emissions trading, energy efficiency, clean energy, low-emission transport, low-carbon cities cooperation, climate-related technology cooperation, and investment in climate and clean energy projects, as well as cooperation with other development countries.

The 20th China-EU Summit showed that China and the EU also have the potential to explore new forms of cooperation that are in line with both the Belt and Road Initiative and the EU’s development strategies. After 15 years of comprehensive strategic partnership, the two sides have entered in a new era of strategic cooperation, making China-EU relations one of the most important international relations.

The author is a graduate of China Studies and International Relations at Peking University and the London School of Economics. Currently, he is working in the fields of development and public policy.