Consensus points to strength of EU ties

Historic visit and speech the highlights of Xi's four-nation visit

President Xi Jinping has ended an 11-day visit to the Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium, the highlights of which were a historic visit to the headquarters of the European Union and a speech in the Belgian city of Bruges calling for stronger China-EU ties.

On the last leg of his first visit to Europe as president, Xi held talks with the bloc's top officials, and the two sides agreed that China and the EU should be partners for growth, offering each other opportunities and speeding up completion of an investment treaty.

In a meeting with the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, he said China expects Europe to expand high-tech exports and wants the two sides to start a feasibility study on a free trade pact as soon as possible.

Experts said that the consensus reached between Xi and top European officials is significant, underlining the fact that China and the EU have agreed to greatly strengthen their partnership.

One aim of Xi's visit to EU headquarters, the first by a Chinese president, was to bring the growth of the two-way trade flow between China and EU back on track after a year of trade tensions over solar panels and wine, analysts said.

In his speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Xi emphasized the need for Beijing and the EU to maintain open markets and set the ambitious goal of raising two-way trade to $1 trillion by 2020.

Xi said he hopes the two sides will conduct equal dialogue and friendly consultations to "put out the sparks of trade friction and let the flames of prosperous development rage".

He also stressed the importance of building bridges of friendship and cooperation across Eurasia.

"We need to build four bridges for peace, growth, reform and the progress of civilization, so that the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership will take on even greater global significance."

In addition, he called for a Silk Road economic belt to be developed to integrate the markets of Asia and Europe and make China and the EU "twin engines" of global economic growth.

The EU is China's largest trade partner, and China is the EU's second largest. Bilateral trade was worth $559 billion last year.

Xi used the analogy of Chinese tea and Belgium beer to explain the importance of mutual respect for one another's culture and ways of developing and said they helped explain why China pursues growth independently.

"Chinese people are fond of tea and Belgians love beer. To me, the moderate tea drinker and the passionate beer lover represent two ways of understanding life and knowing the world, and I find them equally rewarding."

In Belgium, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, accompanied by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, inaugurated a panda house in a local zoo. The two pandas, Xing Hui and Hao Hao, arrived in Belgium in February and will stay for 15 years on a lease agreement.

On April 1, Xi also attended a ceremony to present the 300,000th Volvo car produced for the Chinese market at a Volvo plant in Ghent, northern Belgium.

He visited a car exhibition and saw a production line. He was also briefed on research and development as well as sales of the cars made in the plant.

Volvo Car Gent is the second largest Volvo assembly line outside Sweden. When the Chinese car maker Geely bought Volvo from Ford Motor Co in 2010, which was seen as a good example of China's investment and cooperation with Europe.

Xinhua contributed to the story

(China Daily European Weekly 04/04/2014 page3)