Ambassador Liu Xiaoming Delivers A Keynote Speech and Answers Questions at the Webinar with UK Think Tanks On China-Europe Relations

Sherard Cowper-Coles from HSBC: Very good to see you, Ambassador. I wanted to ask you about the disparity in understanding between Europe and China. In the UK at the moment, there're more than 150,000 Chinese students, China seems to know a lot about Europe. But yesterday's performance by conservative MPs showed that there is a great gap in understanding in the UK and across Europe more generally of China and China's history, and China's view of the world. Many people say they have no quarrel with the Chinese people; they just have a quarrel with the Chinese Communist Party, but forgetting that the Communist Party has 90 million members, etc. So I want to ask you, what more should we be doing to try and increase knowledge of China in Europe, particularly among those who make policy or form opinions, because there's a big deficit in understanding?

Ambassador Liu: Thank you for sharing your question. I assume next time when I prepare my speech, I would put in the fifth deficit that is understanding deficit. I quite agree with you that there's a big gap between China and Europe, mostly Western countries. So each time when some Western countries including Australia and the United States criticize China, they always say China is widely criticized. I would say they only represent a small number of western countries and they are not the world. Taking the National Security Law for example, more than 70 countries show support for this Law. And how many countries have stood against China? It's just one third of the number of countries that supported China. So I think the effective way is to engage actively with each other. I think we should not decouple with each other. That is a very bad idea. I think we need more coupling. We encourage China and Europe to have a cross-boarder engagement among the young people, the students. After what happened in the United States, more Chinese students intend to study here in this country. I hope the UK will continue to be open to Chinese students, and will continue to welcome Chinese students with open arms.