Editor's note: Yang Chengyu is an associate researcher at the Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice-president of the European Commission, is visiting China from September 23 to 26.

The 10th China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue, regarded as the highest-level dialogue mechanism in the field of economic and trade cooperation between China and the EU, has always been the primary channel for the two sides to resolve misunderstandings and differences, through the promotion of economic and trade cooperation. As one of the three pillars of China-EU relations, it has garnered extensive attention as a result. The Dialogue resumed offline for the first time in three years also highlights a positive signal for the improvement of China-EU relations.

In recent years, the China-EU economic and trade relations faced increasing disputes, interferences, and challenges, due to geopolitical factors, the Ukraine crisis, and "de-risking" measures adopted by the U.S. and Europe. Although the EU insisted on various occasions that "de-risking" does not equate to "decoupling", China has made it clear that it firmly opposes the utilization of trade protectionism to achieve "de-risking". The recent EU announcement of an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles, the statement in June claiming that Chinese 5G suppliers Huawei and ZTE pose "higher risks" and threatening to take corresponding measures, as well as the successively introduced European Chips Act, EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and the Critical Raw Materials Act, are all examples of trade protectionism. Meanwhile, they have also brought significant uncertainties to the mutually beneficial China-EU economic and trade relationship.

Currently, Europe is trying to boost economic recovery under the shadows cast by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, while grappling with economic downturns and persistently high inflation. In recent years, it has also been facing multiple tests in its green and digital transformation. There are no geopolitical entanglements or historical issues lying between China and Europe, and the fundamentals underpinning the four major areas of partnership, which are peace, growth, reform, and civilization, remain unchanged. On the global stage, only by deepening economic and trade cooperation with China, can Europe stabilize its industrial supply chains and lower its price levels in order to truly achieve economic recovery. As prominent participants in building an open global economy, economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe has maintained robust growth despite numerous obstacles in recent years.

Now, the strategic significance of China-EU relations has become increasingly clear. Stable China-EU relations are conducive to preventing the world from descending into bipolar confrontation. Deepening China-EU cooperation will contribute to global peace and development. The China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue will provide an opportunity for China and the European Union to engage in discussions on critical economic and trade issues of mutual concern. An open and candid dialogue will dispel doubts, and help unleash the potential of China-EU cooperation.