Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

Responding to questions about how the Chinese government evaluates the current state of China-EU relations as the China-EU Summit will be held this week, Guo Jiakun, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that this year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the EU, and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the UN. Over the past 50 years, the China-EU relationship has become one of the most influential bilateral relationships in the world.

Fruitful China-EU cooperation has boosted each other's development and progress, bringing tangible benefits to nearly 2 billion Chinese and EU people, making important contributions to world peace and development, and setting a fine example of mutually beneficial cooperation in the era of economic globalization, the spokesperson said.

Guo noted that the China-EU relationship is now at a critical juncture of building on past achievements and opening up a new chapter. The relationship faces both new opportunities and new challenges. In an increasingly turbulent international landscape with rising unilateralism and protectionism, the upcoming China-EU Summit - an occasion to enhance strategic communication and deepen dialogue and cooperation - is good not only for our two sides but also to the world as a whole, Guo said. 

"China stands ready to work with the EU, through a successful summit, to send a positive message of China and the EU being committed to strengthening partnership and upholding multilateralism and open cooperation," the spokesperson said.

The Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that as agreed between China and the EU, President of the European Council Antonio Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will visit China on July 24. 

In his meeting with von der Leyen in early July in Brussels, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described the upcoming China-EU leaders' meeting as a significant event taking place at a critical juncture. 

Wang said that China looks forward to working with the EU to summarize the valuable experience and important insights from the past 50 years of China-EU relations, and map out the future direction of dialogue and cooperation for the next 50 years, sending a clear, positive, and constructive signal to the world.

"I believe the China-EU leaders' summit is worth anticipating, as it represents a major bilateral engagement against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the EU," Zhao Junjie, senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Zhao noted that the more important goal is to frankly address existing differences in perception, fundamental disagreements, and even values-based divergences - so that both sides are fully aware of where each stands.

Zhao said that on the one hand, the EU seeks to maintain normal economic and trade relations with China; on the other, it worries about overdependence, leading to calls for "de-risking." 

"Such contradictions and vacillations reflect the EU's internal struggle over its China policy," the expert said, urging the EU to show its sincerity in trying to resolve disputes with China through consultations and meet China halfway.

Zhao said that the EU leads in technologies such as carbon capture and storage, while China has made significant progress in renewable energy, including wind, hydro, solar power, and new-energy vehicles. "With strengths in both scale and technology, the two sides have great potential for collaboration in areas such as environmental protection and renewable energy under the broader green economy framework," he said.