China and the European Union (EU) celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations with a high-level reception on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, co-hosted by the Chinese Mission to the EU and the Chinese Consulate General.
The event brought together Chinese representatives and members of the European Parliament, who praised the significant progress made in China-EU relations over the past half-century, and expressed optimism for deeper collaboration in the years ahead in order to make positive contributions to global peace, stability, and prosperity.
During the reception, participants highlighted the significance of both sides' recent agreement to fully and simultaneously lift restrictions on mutual exchanges. Many celebrated this as a crucial step in revitalizing bilateral ties across diverse sectors, including cultural exchanges and economic cooperation.
"We can work together around shared goals through dialogue. We live on the same planet and face challenges that are critical to both our peoples. I believe China and the EU have a common agenda. The evolving geopolitical landscape compels us both to make a concerted effort," said Younous Omarjee, vice president of the European Parliament.
European Parliament member Fernand Kartheiser expressed his admiration for China's remarkable progress and groundbreaking innovation.
"I have always been impressed by China, especially every time I return after a period away. What strikes me most is the speed of China's development, its level of modernization, and the country's technological achievements. These are truly astonishing to us Europeans. I believe we must build EU-China relations on the principles of friendship and mutual trust to achieve even greater cooperation," he said.
China, EU celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties with high-level reception in France
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
