Together, China and EU can avoid new Cold War

The meeting between the leaderships of China and Belgium on Friday in Beijing demonstrates the two sides' common wish to deepen pragmatic economic and trade cooperation and make concerted efforts to stabilize global industry and supply chains.

It is good to hear the Belgian side echo Beijing in saying that it opposes decoupling or the severing of industry and supply chains. It also expressed its welcome to Chinese enterprises carrying out cooperation in Belgium, and its desire to strengthen personnel and cultural exchanges with China.

Since the European Union is headquartered in Brussels, and Belgium currently holds the annual rotating presidency of the EU, the country can be a pacesetter for European countries' ties with China in many aspects. That's why it is also a hope of Beijing that the Belgian government can play a positive role in the EU's policymaking regarding trade, business, investment, technology and foreign affairs related to China.

China maintains long-term consistency in its policy toward Europe. In the Friday meeting, Beijing made it clear that China has always regarded the EU as a partner, and hopes the EU will provide a fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory business environment for Chinese investment and companies.

In the face of the changing and volatile international situation, China and the EU need to build more "bridges", so that the two sides can deepen their political trust, play positive and constructive roles as important forces in a multipolar world and promote economic globalization that benefits all.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and is of great significance in building on the past and opening up the future for bilateral relations. China and the EU should strengthen dialogue and cooperation and oppose bloc confrontation.

The essence of China-Europe cooperation is the complementary nature of their respective advantages and mutual benefit. The differences between the two sides should not and must not be allowed to hijack the overall development of the bilateral ties. The two sides can settle their differences properly through dialogue and negotiation conducted in good faith.

The EU should realize that neither "de-risking" — decoupling to be precise — nor bloc confrontation serves its interests. They are by no means a panacea for the challenges some developed countries face, even if the few shortsighted politicians advocating them argue to the contrary.

China and Europe, as two major civilizations and two major forces, have full wisdom and capability to carry out high-level dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation. In doing so they can create a new paradigm of interaction that is a more attractive alternative than the return to a Cold War, which is what the United States is offering the world.