On July 28th, 2025, Chinese Ambassador to Albania H.E. Ms. Pang Chunxue publishes an article entitled A New Chapter for China-EU Relations on Albanian Daily News, the largest English newspaper in Albania. The article gives a brief on the outcomes of the 25th China-EU Summit and envisions the bright future of China-EU relations. The full text is as follows:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-EU diplomatic ties, bringing an important opportunity for the further development of bilateral relations.
Earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone call with European Council President Antonio Costa, marking the beginning of the celebrations for the anniversary. On July 24th, President Xi Jinping met with President Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who were in China for the 25th China-EU Summit. President Xi Jinping put forward three important proposals to steer the further development of China-EU relations: upholding mutual respect to reinforce the China-EU partnership; upholding openness and cooperation to manage differences and frictions; upholding multilateralism to safeguard international rules and order.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang co-chaired the Summit with President Costa and President von der Leyen, and reached important consensus on the development of China-EU relations. The two sides issued the Joint Statement of China-EU Leaders on Addressing Climate Change, and agreed to forge an “upgraded version” of the China-EU export control dialogue mechanism, in order to have timely communication on each other’s concerns and jointly keep the industrial and supply chains between China and Europe stable and unimpeded. Premier Li Qiang also attended the China-EU Business Leaders Symposium with President von der Leyen, and listened carefully to the opinions and suggestions of entrepreneurs from both sides on strengthening China-EU economic and trade cooperation.
As changes unseen in a century are accelerating in a turbulent world, and unilateralism and bullying practices have dealt a heavy blow to international order, humanity once again stands at a critical juncture. China and Europe are two major forces for world peace, two major markets for common development, and two major civilizations for human progress. The more challenging and complex the international situation becomes, the more China and the EU need to strengthen communication, enhance mutual trust, and deepen cooperation, contributing precious stability and certainty to the world.
China and Europe should be close friends who trust each other. The challenges currently faced by Europe are not from China. There are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions between China and the EU. The fundamentals and prevailing trend of cooperation outweighing competition, as well as consensus outweighing differences between China and the EU remain unchanged. The two sides should deepen strategic communication, enhance understanding and mutual trust, and foster the right perception of each other. China has always viewed and developed relations with Europe from a strategic and long-term perspective, and consistently supports European integration and the EU’s strategic autonomy. We hope that the EU will also respect the path and system chosen by the Chinese people, respect China’s core interests and major concerns, and support China’s development and prosperity.
China and Europe should be good partners who carry out win-win cooperation. The essence of China-EU economic and trade relations lies in complementarity and mutual benefits. Over the past 5 decades, our annual trade volume has jumped from US$2.4 billion to US$785.8 billion. Two-way investment stock has grown from nearly zero to US$260 billion. China's high-quality development and high-standard opening up will provide new opportunities and expand new space for China-EU cooperation. China stands ready to work with the EU to accelerate the implementation of Global Development Initiative, and upgrade economic and trade cooperation not only in traditional areas, such as trade and investment, but also in emerging areas, such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, green development and scientific and technological innovation. The two sides should properly handle disputes and frictions through dialogues, consultation, and deepened cooperation.
China and Europe should be close friends who advocate mutual learning among civilizations. The Global Civilization Initiative calls for the respect for the diversity of civilization as well as expansion of cultural and people-to-people exchanges, which is in line with the motto of the European Union "United in Diversity." The two sides should further strengthen the exchanges and cooperation through the High-level People-to-People Dialogue (HPPD), and achieve more outcomes of bilateral cultural exchanges and mutual learning. China is now steadily implementing initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping during his visit to France last year, namely bringing the total number of French students in China to more than 10,000, and doubling the number of young Europeans on exchange programs to China in the next three years. And China has also offered unilateral visa exemption to citizens of 32 European nations. In 2024, China-EU personnel exchanges exceeded 9.7 million visits. We welcome more and more European tourists to discover the real and lovely China with their own eyes.
China and Europe should be good fellows who promote global governance. The Joint Statement on Climate Change once again sends a positive signal of upholding multilateralism to the world. China and the EU should jointly uphold the international rules and order established after the World War II, advance the building of a more just and equitable global governance system in keeping with the times, and address climate change and other global challenges together. China is willing to work with the EU to implement Global Security Initiative, to uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, to support the peaceful settlement of international disputes through political means so as to maintain world peace and stability.
China and the EU should stay committed to the comprehensive strategic partnership, to strengthen exchanges, deepen mutual trust, advance cooperation, and work to open a brighter next 50 years for China-EU relations.
