Former Belgian prime minister calls for deepened EU-China cooperation

Former Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme said that China is a constructive partner in building the multilateral system, and called for the European Union (EU) and China to work towards deepened cooperation.

In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Leterme said that China was developing in a peaceful way and that, while differences between the two sides remained, the idea of 'decoupling' was in no one's interest.

"I don't agree with decoupling. I think it's no interest of the population that we have different systems, information systems and that we decouple. If it would be possible, I don't think it's a positive development or positive objective to just decouple the economies. China tries to regain its positions in global development and global activities in a very peaceful way. It's also a very constructive partner in building and strengthening the multilateral system," he said.

Leterme said that the EU and China should move toward a more constructive agenda for their bilateral relationship.

"In terms of economic relations, I think that the European Union currently is trying to put its acts together in how it should answer the challenge of a very fierce competition from high quality, underestimated products and services coming from China. What I would hope is that we, very rapidly now, can go to a more constructive agenda for the EU-China relations, where we maybe try to see what should happen to protect investment mutually, reopen markets that have been closed, open new possibilities of economic exchange in terms of goods and services, tendering possibilities from both sides, participating in tenders for companies, the work that was blocked at a certain moment to strike a new deal in terms of the comprehensive agreement on investment protection," he said.

China and the EU are marking 50 years of diplomatic ties in 2025. Bilateral trade has expanded more than 320-fold over the past five decades, now standing at around 780 billion U.S. dollars, according to China's General Administration of Customs.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.