By Martin Banks - 9th December 2009
A Brussels conference on Wednesday was told that the next decade will be a "crucial period" in EU-China relations.
Speaking at the event, Zhe Song China's top official in Brussels, said, "Both China and the EU will forge ahead along its own path of development, and there will be differences and disagreements.
"But nothing should deter us from respecting and supporting each other’s choice of development path, rejecting discrimination, confrontation and containment, and advocating equality, dialogue and cooperation."
However, addressing the same event, David Gosset, director of the Euro-China centre for international and business relations, warned that the two sides still had problems to overcome
"There is still no mutual trust and we need two self-confident players to overcome this, " he said.
EU-China relations are only just starting to recover from the fall-out of last year's row over parliament's decision to invite the Dalai Lama to address MEPs and the EU's reaction
Zhe, Chinese ambassador to the EU, was the keynote speaker at a high-level conference organised by Friends of Europe, the leading Brussels-based think tank.
The conference, "Doing business with China," is part of the three-year "Understanding China" programme, co-funded by the commission.
Zhe, back in Brussels after attending the recent EU/China summit in Nanjing, attempted to deflect such concerns when he said, "This year, despite of the impact of the international financial crisis on the world economy and international trade, the momentum of China-EU cooperation remains strong."
He said the EU remains China’s largest trading partner for the seventh consecutive year and EU investment in China remains rising, not falling "as someone would expect."
The EU has become China’s third-largest source of foreign investment and this year also witnessed several first time events,including the first China-EU forum on literature and translation and the first China-EU forum on cultural industry.
He said, "When China and the EU established diplomatic relations 34 years ago, no one could imagine how deeply our cooperation would shape the life of our people as it is today."
Friends of Europe secretary general Giles Merritt said, "China has become the workshop of the world and is on the way to becoming the world's banker. In other words, it is becoming more and more of a top-rate global power."
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