The first overseas visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2019 is to Europe, the same destination for Chinese President Xi Jinping about a fortnight ago.

This time, though, Premier Li Keqiang is visiting both Western Europe, where he is calling on the European Union (EU) Headquarters in Brussels and attending the 21st edition of China-EU Summit, and Croatia in Eastern Europe, where he will meet with 16 leaders from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the 8th edition of China-CEE Summit, also known as the 16+1 Summit.

Last month, a European Commission report, for the first time, labeled China as a "systemic rival," saying that China is promoting a different way of governance. EU sensitivities about the alleged governance model competition posed by China are particularly strong in CEE countries, where the EU is yet to fully win over local hearts.

The 16+1 cooperation mechanism, since its inception, has come under scrutiny time and again. Western punditry has focused on China's foray into the CEE countries, with some claiming that China is buying them on the cheap.

In essence, the 16+1 cooperation mechanism makes dialogues between China and CEE countries happen at a sufficiently high level so as to promote meaningful cooperation. Rather than a Chinese invention to vie for influence or a platform to push for any competing governance model, the 16+1 mechanism was a natural result of the sheer size of Chinese investment and scope of cooperation in CEE countries. Unsurprisingly, projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework will continue to develop; therefore, there is all the more reason for China to engage constructively with CEE countries, and preferably in an institutionalized way. 

It must be noted, though, China and CEE partners have all along asserted that the 16+1 cooperation mechanism is part of and complements overall Sino-European relations.

Within the 16+1 cooperation mechanism, the 16 involve a heterogeneous group of countries, including 11 EU member states (five of which are also members of the single currency eurozone), four EU candidate countries, and one potential candidate state.

To say such a heterogeneous group offers itself on cheap sale to China is nothing but outrageous. The root of this preposterous proposition lies in the West's condescending attitude towards the CEE countries, which are sure to refuse the moral high-ground claimed by the West.

The China factor has thus become a wedge that divides Europe. As alarmist pundits advertise this invented Chinese wedge in Europe, it would be unwise for the EU to allow this line of thinking to poison both its relations with China and Europe's internal unity.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's European trip plus the back-to-back meetings with EU and CEE leaders will provide yet another key opportunity for Chinese and European colleagues to touch base in goodwill about how best to promote cooperation, both in the EU region and the CEE sub-region. The arrangement of back-to-back summits is more about logistical convenience. The message from China, first and foremost, is one of openness and transparency, whereby China has no hidden agenda in Europe.

Through engagement, China is doing the best to connect China-EU cooperation and the 16+1 mechanism together. In so doing, China is also helping European colleagues to remove the invented Chinese wedge.