China and EU can work together to defend free trade

PREMIER LI KEQIANG has ended an official visit to Bulgaria and Germany, during which he attended activities such as the China-Germany Economic and Technical Cooperation Forum and co-chaired the leaders' meeting of China and Central and Eastern European countries. China Radio International comments:

China and Germany have been strengthening their cooperation in many fields. The Sino-German trade volume now accounts for about one-third of the total trade volume between China and the European Union. Over the past 40 years, the trade volume between China and Germany has increased a hundredfold, making China the third-largest destination for Germany's exports and its largest source of imports.

Currently China is expanding its reform and opening-up process, and the measures it is taking include lowering the threshold for market access, strengthening intellectual property rights protection, and improving the business environment. Germany and other European countries that have good relationships with China will be the first to benefit from these efforts.