Fostering a culture of trust and exchange

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and political leaders from Europe emphasized the importance of communication and exchange between political parties, pledging to seize cooperation opportunities created by strategic guidelines from both China and the European Union (EU).

The growing exchanges between China and the EU in politics, trade, technology and education, among others, have proven to be substantially beneficial for both the Chinese and Europeans, said Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping when he met delegates from political parties of Europe in Beijing on May 16.

The political leaders from 32 parties in 20 European countries were in China to attend the China-Europe High-Level Political Party Forum hosted by the CPC, held on May 16-18.

As an important part of the bilateral ties, the exchange between political parties from China and the EU will help to push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides, says Xi, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

"China has rolled out its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), while Europe has launched the 10-year EU 2020 strategy. Both the plans share similarities and the two sides, therefore, face new opportunities in practical cooperation," senior CPC official Liu Yunshan says.

Liu, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, says both regions have evolved strategic guidelines that emphasize the importance of the transformation of economic growth mode, and planning to boost the economy by developing clean energy.

"The increasing domestic demand in China may lead to more imports from the EU. This provides many opportunities for the EU to recover from the global financial crisis.

"On the other hand, the EU's advantage in innovation and advanced technology in environmental protection can also push China's transformation of economic growth mode forward," Liu says.

Martin Schulz, chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, says there are a lot of common interests between the two strategic guidelines.

"The global impact of the financial crisis has been a wakeup call that business cooperation is needed on a global level. Europe and China are both determined to emerge stronger from the crisis. This is a big chance for China, and a bigger chance for the Europeans," says Schulz.

"The forum was a unique experience. I never get an opportunity to interact with my political competitors or opponents in such a friendly environment outside Europe," Schulz says.

Reinhard Buetikofer, vice-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, says that the forum provides a chance to better understand their political rivals.

"I've never seen my competitor Martin Shulz as mild as these three days and I will be very happy to learn that ideologies will not play a determined role in the future. I am looking forward to experience that in the European Parliament," Buetikofer says.

Though they have verbal battles and different political views, all of them admit that strong relations between EU and China are vital for the future.

"Though we face very tough competition in Europe, we are all representing Europe as a strategic partner for China," Schulz says.

The second session of the Forum will be held in the second half of this year in Brussels.

"We will work very hard to make it successful. We will include more people-to-people contacts and also hope to include the younger generation in the second session," Buetikofer says.

Xinhua contributed to this story.