The newly-revised Foreign Trade Law will play a significant role in promoting healthy development of foreign trade, a People's Daily editorial said. An excerpt follows:

The draft amendment to the Chinese Foreign Trade Law, submitted for deliberation for the third time, was passed by a unanimous vote at the eighth meeting of the 10th National People's Congress Standing Committee, which was closed on April 6.

The revised law will provide better legal protection for the healthy development of China's foreign trade.

Revision of the law is needed in accordance with China's membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). To fulfill China's WTO commitment, some current laws and regulations should be revised and amended. As a WTO member, we should also transform WTO rules into domestic laws to better sustain our rights and interests.

The revision also meets the needs of China's fast-growing foreign trade. Great changes have taken place since the Foreign Trade Law was passed in 1994. China ranks as the world's fourth biggest in foreign trade with a total volume of US$850 billion last year. Foreign trade has become a major force promoting the constant development of national economy. The 1994 Foreign Trade Law fell short of meeting the new situation of China's foreign trade.

Revision of the Law also promotes the country's legal construction. Managing State affairs according to law is our basic policy. As an important part of our legal system, the Foreign Trade Law can provide consistency in government administration.

Revised according to China's real situations and WTO rules as well as past experiences of other countries, the Foreign Trade Law reflects the basic ideas of China's management on foreign trade and direction for future reform and development.

We should take our time to draw out relative rules and regulations to establish a new legal system needed by the development of foreign trade. Local governments at all levels should put it at top of their agendas to implement the Law.

Through implementing the Law, an equal environment will be created for all traders and the trade integration process will be promoted. It will also contribute to the common development of China and the outside world.

China, Europe move closer

The demand for self-development and the change of international situations have served as the fundamental force in driving the rapid development of ties between China and the European Union (EU), said an article in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

Within three months in the first part of this year, China has received four high-ranking EU officials, the current being the president of the EU Commission Romano Prodi, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a four-day visit to China.

The frequent exchange of high-level visits in addition to the annually-held China-EU Summit has demonstrated that the relations between the two are advancing towards maturity.

The current China-EU ties are undergoing their best-ever period in history, as Prodi said on the eve of his trip.

Certainly, the rapid development of the China-EU strategic partnership has been partly attributed to the fast advancement of China-EU economic and trade ties, the increase of non-governmental exchanges, and encouragement by politicians of the two sides.

But the demands for self-development from both sides and the development of the international situation have acted as the fundamental factors.

First, the EU has developed into not merely an economic giant in the international arena but with the beefing up and the deepening of its integration, the EU is showing an increasing interest in international affairs. Since the setting up of a senior foreign and security affairs representative's office, EU members have begun practising a unified foreign policy.

Under this backdrop, the EU has raised its developing ties with China to an unprecedented level. In a 1998 document on the establishment of a full partnership with China, the EU formulated its policy of improving and expanding political dialogue with China. It also raised its ties with China to a strategic level in a document passed in October, 2003.

Second, in recent years, the EU has actively initiated an independent foreign and defence policy free from the US influence in the international arena.

Its distance from the United States on the Iraq War and 1999 EU summit decision to establish its own rapid response force has shown its growing desire for an independent foreign policy.

Third, China and the EU have extremely similar attitudes towards the world's structure and methods of dealing with international issues.

Both China and the EU advocate multilateralism and oppose unilateralism and pre-emptive military strategy in international relations.

Fourth, China's strategy for increasing a peaceful role in world affairs has provided more chances for improving Sino-EU relations.

The new Chinese leadership has been more active in integrating its country into international mechanisms and more active in pursuing multilateral co-operation, facilitating its co-operation with the EU.

In October, 2003, the Chinese Government published the first document on its policy towards the EU.

The EU has also said many times that it welcomes China's active participation in international affairs.

All these have facilitated a more effective and more extensive co-operation between China and the EU.