China EU Photo: VCG

China appreciates the European Commission's vow in its new trade policy review to continue valuing economic relations with China, while opposing the European Union (EU)'s false accusation that China adopts unique state capitalism which poses a challenge to global economic governance, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Friday.

The announcement came after a report was released by the European Commission on February 18, claiming that the rapid rise of China, demonstrating global ambitions and pursuing a distinct state capitalist model, has fundamentally changed the global economic and political order.

China is building a socialist market economy in an all-round way so that the market will play a decisive role in the allocation of resources and the government's role will be better brought into play. Practice has proved that China's economic governance system conforms to China's reality and contributes more Chinese wisdom to global economic governance, MOFCOM said.

China has always been an active participant, staunch supporter, and important contributor to the WTO. Unilateralism and protectionism are the root causes of the current WTO crisis, MOFCOM said, adding that China and the EU should work together to maintain and develop the multilateral trading system as the WTO is facing severe challenges.

The report from the European Commission also said the EU will adopt stricter restrictions in areas such as foreign investment review, export control, government procurement, and subsidies; MOFCOM said it hoped the EU increases policy transparency, maintains fairness and non-discrimination, and avoids obstructing normal international trade and investment.

"China and Europe are partners, not rivals, and cooperation is far greater than competition," MOFCOM said.

Although the social systems and economic models of the two sides are different, this does not prevent the two sides from developing mutually beneficial cooperation, it noted.

China surpassed the US to become the EU's largest trading partner in the coronavirus-plagued 2020, according to the latest data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat, which shows that the EU's trade volume with China reached 586 billion euros ($711 billion) in 2020, compared to 555 billion euros for the US.

Data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany showed that China remained the biggest trade partner of Germany for the fifth consecutive year, surpassing the Netherlands and the US. According to preliminary results, goods worth 212.1 billion euros were traded between Germany and China in 2020.