Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed the hope that China-EU relations will move ahead smoothly with green lights at every crossing at a press conference on Thursday, during which he answered questions from Chinese and foreign media about China's foreign policy and external relations.
Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China and the EU should be characterized rightly as partners.
"Cooperation should be the defining feature of the relationship, with autonomy as its key value, and win-win as its future prospect" he said.
China and the EU should jointly act as practitioners of multilateralism, advocates of open development, and promoters of cultural dialogue, according to Wang.
Cargo trains waiting for departure at the Alataw Pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, November 4, 2023. Located in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bortala in Xinjiang, the Alataw Pass shares its border with Kazakhstan. Since the first China-Europe freight train journey through it in 2011, the pass has handled over 30,000 trains bound for Central Asia or Europe. /Xinhua
Wang noted that a strong Europe aligns with China's long-term interests, just as a strong China fundamentally serves Europe's interests.
"Labeling China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival at the same time is neither consistent with reality nor viable. On the contrary, it would only bring unnecessary distractions and obstacles for China-EU relations," said Wang, who compared this situation to encountering a traffic light that simultaneously displays red, yellow and green signals, rendering one unsure of the next step.
China and the EU do not have fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical strategic contradictions, and the common interests between the two sides far outweigh the differences, he noted.
"As long as China and the EU engage in mutually beneficial cooperation, no attempt to create bloc confrontation will succeed, any attempt to create bloc confrontation will fail; as long as China and Europe stay committed to openness and win-win, deglobalization will not prevail," said Wang.