China's Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min co-chaired the 16th China-EU Financial Dialogue with EU officials in Brussels on March 31. The two sides had in-depth discussions on topics including the macro-economic situation and policies of China and the EU, cooperation under the G20 framework, as well as collaborations on audit supervision and government procurement, the Global Times reports. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU. The dialogue, adding to several recent visits by European officials to China, signals the EU's proactive attitude in seeking to ease tensions, expand bilateral consensus and enhance cooperation with the Chinese side, analysts said. The relations between China and the EU now stand at a “turning point” amid global turbulence and the EU's efforts to strengthen strategic autonomy, observers said, while urging Brussels to engage in more in-depth pragmatic cooperation with China on the basis of “seeking common ground while respecting differences.”
EU officials attended the dialogue included Maarten Verwey of the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs and Alexandra Jour-Schroeder of the Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. China is willing to work with the EU to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two economies, jointly uphold multilateralism and the multilateral trading system and oppose unilateralism and protectionism, thereby providing greater certainty to an uncertain global economy, a MOFCOM statement noted. China values financial and economic cooperation with the EU and is committed to strengthening bilateral collaboration under frameworks such as the G20 and multilateral development banks. China also seeks to deepen practical cooperation with the EU in financial areas such as audit supervision and government procurement to support both sides in achieving their respective development goals. The EU representatives also took note of the key role of the China-EU Financial Dialogue mechanism in enhancing macro-economic policy coordination and promoting financial and economic cooperation between China and the EU in the past 20 years.
EU officials stressed that in a world full of uncertainties, China and the EU – as two major economies – should strengthen macro-economic policy coordination and work together to address global challenges such as climate change and debt issues in developing countries. They noted that the bloc is willing to enhance dialogue and consultations with China, engage in equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the stable and balanced development of China-EU economic relations to achieve win-win outcomes, the Global Times reports.
