Zhang Ming is the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union.
Dear friends,
In October 2017, I became the 14th Chinese Ambassador to the European Union. Looking back on the past four years, my colleagues and I have made our best efforts to promote the development of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. We have had good days, and we have had bad days. But in the final analysis, I am relieved to see progress in China-EU cooperation. As I leave, I sincerely thank my friends and colleagues in Europe for their care and support for China-EU relations and the work of the Chinese mission and myself.
President Xi Jinping pointed out that China and Europe are the two major forces of market and civilization. What we support and oppose is of great significance to the world. After four years in Brussels, I fully agree with these remarks. Despite the recent difficulties in bilateral relations, I still firmly believe that the development of China-EU relations is in the interests of both sides, the two peoples and the world. Strengthening China-EU cooperation is a must, not an option.
For this, we need to build our relationship based on four keywords.
The first is cognition. We must uphold the correct understanding, which is a prerequisite for the healthy development of relations between the two countries. The world is undergoing profound changes. China-EU relations are also changing. What remains unchanged is China’s attitude towards Europe. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1975, China has always maintained a high degree of stability and activeness towards EU policies. Despite system differences, we sincerely believe that a comprehensive strategic partnership is still our only suitable positioning. We hope that European friends can also uphold this view and work together with China to bring bilateral relations back to the track of cooperation.
This brings me to my second key word: cooperation. We must ensure that win-win cooperation remains the mainstream of China-EU relations. The two sides have more than 70 dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, which reflect the depth and breadth of bilateral cooperation. During the epidemic, this cooperation once again demonstrated resilience and vitality. Bilateral trade has faced difficulties and China has become the EU’s largest trading partner. Looking forward to the post-epidemic era, China and the EU should expand their common interests through cooperation, which is crucial to the economic recovery, green and digital transformation of both parties and the world. To create a good environment for cooperation, we need to oppose protectionism, decoupling, and jointly safeguard multilateralism.
Multilateralism is of course my third key word, and it is also our consensus and common responsibility. One lesson we can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is that no country can face global challenges alone. For the two important players on the international stage, China and Europe, the answer lies in maintaining multilateralism. We must uphold the core role of the United Nations in international affairs and strengthen the multilateral trading system based on the WTO. Looking to the future, we should cooperate in vaccine launches, world economic recovery and global climate undertakings. Working together, our close cooperation will be a victory for multilateralism.
Last but not least, management. We need to properly handle differences through communication. There are differences between China and Europe in history, culture, social systems and development stages. It is natural that we sometimes disagree. The key is how to manage them properly. Of course there is no magic formula, but communication and mutual respect are definitely better than unilateral measures and forced will. I believe that the brilliant civilizations of China and Europe will give us wisdom to manage our differences while maintaining our diversity.
These are challenging times in which we live. We are living in hopeful times. How will we meet the challenge? How will we realize our hope? Although I am leaving Brussels, no matter when and where, I will look at China-EU relations with hope. I firmly believe that our relationship will have a better tomorrow! Now, a better tomorrow requires you and me to work together.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2022 and the Year of the Tiger!
