Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, agreed to work together to promote bilateral ties in post-epidemic era, and uphold cooperation and multilateralism.
The consensus was reached during the 10th round of the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue Tuesday, which was convened via video conference.
Not competitors in systems
China will firmly follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics that has been proven successful in practice, but will not export its system or development model, Wang said.
"China and the EU have different social systems, but this is a choice made by our people respectively," he said, adding that the two sides are not competitors in systems, but long-term comprehensive strategic partners.
Borrell echoed that the EU respects the development path chosen by the Chinese people and attaches importance to China's important role in the international society.
Consensus on cooperation, multilateralism
Noting that the China-EU relations have shown a strong vitality since the establishment of diplomatic ties, Wang pointed out that an important lesson that has been learned during the period is that cooperation between the two sides outweighs competition, and consensus outweighs differences.
The foreign minister called for more efforts in promoting China-EU relations in the "post-epidemic era," and said that the two sides should work together to promote the resumption of work and production, maintain the stability of the industrial and supply chains of China and the EU, and strengthen experience sharing on public health and emergency management.
Borrell also stressed that the EU is willing to work with China to achieve positive results at the EU-China Summit and the EU-China Summit, jointly plan and advance practical cooperation, ensure the completion of the EU-China investment agreement negotiations within the year as scheduled, and forge closer EU-China relations.
Since the China-EU High Level Strategic Dialogue was first established in 2010, nine rounds of dialogue have been held so far, which has been important in enhancing mutual understanding, trust, communication and cooperation between the two sides.
The last round of the dialogue was held on March 18, 2019.
