China and the EU have maintained vigorous economic cooperation despite the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

China overtook the U.S. to become the EU's largest trading partner last year, with bilateral trade volume hitting a record high of $828.1 billion.

China and the EU are the second and the third largest economies in the world, with their share of global GDP standing at 18.5 percent and 17.8 percent, respectively, in 2021, according to the World Bank data. 

Let's look at some numbers that reflect China-EU ties. 

From January to October this year, the bilateral trade in goods reached $711.3 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent, according to China's General Administration of Customs. The EU has maintained its position as China's second-largest trading partner.

In the first eight months, the EU's foreign direct investment (FDI) into China jumped by 123.7 percent year-on-year, data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce showed.

Among the 27 member states of the EU, Germany had the largest share of trade with China in 2021, with the volume of trade in goods accounting for 28.4 percent of that between China and EU. Following Germany are the Netherlands and France, standing at over 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

China and the EU maintained frequent exchange and close cooperation over the past decades. The two sides established full diplomatic relations in 1983. A mechanism of annual meeting between leaders of the two sides was established in 1998, and China-EU High-level Strategic Dialogue was established in 2010.