China expects to boost cooperation with Belgium in key areas such as biomedicine and work with the country to address global challenges, Premier Li Keqiang said on December 7 in a videoconference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. The development of China-Belgium ties has maintained good momentum, Li said. China would like to tap the potential of cooperation with Belgium in areas such as biomedicine, micro-electronics, modern agriculture and science and technology, which are some of its competitive industries. Beijing will strengthen intellectual property protection in cooperation with Brussels so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, Chinese Premier Li added. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages with Belgium’s King Philippe in October to celebrate the event.
In 2014, the two countries decided to upgrade their relationship to an all-around friendly cooperative partnership, and fruitful results have been achieved in bilateral exchanges and cooperation. The bilateral trade volume reached USD28.6 billion in 2020, up 13.9% year-on-year, while Belgium’s investment in China grew by 210%, a historical high. China has become Belgium’s largest trading partner in Asia, according to Cao Zhongming, Chinese Ambassador to Belgium. The number of foreign students from both sides has exceeded 3,000, and the two countries have 32 pairs of sister cities. Premier Li Keqiang emphasized that China is ready to step up dialogue, coordination and cooperation with Belgium under multilateral frameworks to jointly address common challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the China Daily, Belgian Premier De Croo said that Belgium cherishes the achievements of bilateral cooperation over the past five decades and will work with China to oppose trade protectionism.
