This year is sure to be a milestone in the history of Sino-European interaction, as their intensive diplomacy this spring has been impressive.

On the first leg of his eight-day trip to Europe, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wound up a three-day visit to Iceland, the first official visit by a Chinese premier since the founding of diplomatic relations between the two countries 41 years ago.

Wen inaugurates the Hannover Messe, one of the world's leading industrial expos, on Monday in Germany, before paying official visits to Sweden and Poland.

His trip will buttress China's relations with these countries and strengthen its robust cooperation with the European Union at large.

Wen's trip will be followed later this month by the official visit of Vice-Premier Li Keqiang to Russia, Hungary, Belgium and the EU headquarters in Brussels. In fact, since Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to Ireland in February, China and EU countries have reaped the harvest of a series of high-level exchanges.

Also in February, China and the EU held their 14th leaders' meeting in Beijing, and inaugurated the year of intercultural dialogue in Sofia, Bulgaria. On Wednesday, in a move to boost mutual understanding, the two launched the High-Level People-to-People Dialogue in Brussels.

All these have sent a message that China and the EU are indispensable partners and are committed to boosting their cooperation in all fields.

China has been developing its ties with the EU with a long-term, strategic perspective. Given that the EU boasts the highest concentration of developed countries and plays an important role in the global political and economic systems, a stable and healthy EU contributes to world peace and prosperity.

Last year, bilateral trade topped $560 billion, a clear indication of the interdependency of the two economies and the convergence of their interests. Both sides will become each other's largest trading partner in the foreseeable future. There is great potential in deepening reciprocal cooperation in such fields as investment, science, energy, environmental protection and urbanization.

Since the eurozone sovereign debt crisis broke out, China has stood firm in supporting the EU in dealing with the debt issue. Chinese leaders have made it clear that the country is willing to play a bigger part in this regard. Such positive signals have helped shore up confidence at a time when the European debt crisis shows no sign of abating.

Frequent exchanges at high-levels will also help foster mutual understanding and facilitate better cooperation and coordination between them on the world stage.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/23/2012 page18)