China and Europe can help build a better world by cooperating and upholding strategic autonomy: China Daily editorial

President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to Europe represents the latest example of China's major-country diplomacy, which seeks to stabilize relations between major countries amid the increasing global volatility and promote world peace and common development.

President Xi's extensive talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and trilateral meeting with the French leader and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris on Monday attest to the vitality of Sino-French ties, as well as the positive influence of China-EU relations if they promote cooperation where their interests align and responsibly manage the issues on which they have common concerns.

The China-EU trade volume is already around 2.3 billion euros ($2.48 billion) a day, but there is still great potential for China and the European Union to tap, not least in advancing their green transition, in which collaboration in high-tech research and development and key raw materials and equipment supplies are becoming increasingly important.

There is also great scope for them to work together to promote peace and stability in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific. The EU is in a better position than many other parties to know which country is responsible for the security issues in the aforementioned three regions, as well as which country, if not the same one, should be blamed for manufacturing the concerns Von der Leyen highlighted, of China's supposed "State-induced overcapacity, unequal market access" and the EU's overdependency on China.

In that regard, the healthy development of Sino-French ties can serve as a compass for the joint efforts of Beijing and Brussels to keep China-EU ties on the right track. So long as the EU upholds its strategic autonomy and focuses on the common interests it has with China, not only can they work together to set straight their "problems", but they can also pool their endeavors to realize just and lasting peace in Europe and beyond.

The joint call of Beijing and Paris for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer represents the common aspiration of all peace-loving nations, and also sets an example for other major countries.

That pro-peace call will continue to ring during President Xi's next stop, Serbia, and then Hungary, which is the last leg of his trip.

The fruitful and flourishing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Serbia serves the fundamental and long-term interests of both nations and peoples, and the two countries are also closely coordinating with each other in the multilateral arena to uphold international justice and fairness.

The second visit of Xi to Serbia in eight years is set to further cement the iron-clad friendship between the two countries, deepen political mutual trust and expand practical cooperation so the two friendly nations can make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.