EU and China strategic partners for long run

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the European Union last year, we were committed to developing potential synergies between EU policies and China's "Silk Road Economic Belt" initiative. As two major forces on the Eurasian continent, the EU and China should make joint efforts, together with the countries along the Silk Road, to strengthen communication and coordination on this topic.

We also have a shared responsibility for countering terrorism in all forms. The EU has been grateful for Chinese efforts to evacuate and bring back to safety Chinese, European and other citizens from Yemen.

Our efforts should continue now towards addressing the acute crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen by working towards negotiated political solutions under the aegis of the United Nations. And we should do everything we can to prevent such crises to arise in the future.

We have come such a long way since 1975, when our relationship was based on trade and economic relations only. But in forty years we have also reached an unprecedented level of interdependence.

Our trade now reaches, according to Chinese statistics, as much as $600 billion, and some 16,000 passengers are travelling between China and EU countries on over 70 flights each day. We are committed to strengthening trade and economic ties, facilitating people-to-people exchanges, and to boosting two-way investment and improving market access on a reciprocal basis.

Over the decades, we have also learnt that development has to be sustainable and inclusive, with structural reforms and innovation at its core. We can only achieve these goals if we work together, through constructive interaction and mutual support. This is the essence of our strategic partnership.

China and the EU are accountable for the wellbeing of about a quarter of the globe's population. Our two economies impact immensely on those around us. We should co-ordinate more closely at the multilateral level.

We are now dedicating significant resources to advancing the climate change negotiations and securing an ambitious possible outcome at the Paris Conference of the Parties. The up-coming EU-China Summit will be partly dedicated to designing a joint approach.

The UN post-2015 development agenda offers an important opportunity and means to alleviate and eradicate poverty, and to promote growth and human rights, not least the right to development. EU and China will work together for a fair, inclusive and sustainable post-2015 agenda.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and the founding of the United Nations. China and Europe are amongst those who built and maintained the post-World War II international order based on the UN Charter. We will continue to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter, and their universality, and work actively for peace, development and human rights in international relations, the rule of law in international governance, and a more equitable international order.

Wang Yi is Chinese Foreign Minister, and Federica Mogherini is High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission.

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