The Sino-European leaders' meeting held on the 9th issued a joint statement, breaking the previous predictions of some European and American media that there will be no joint statement at this meeting. The joint statement signed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, President of the European Commission Juncker, and President of the European Council Tusk is very extensive. It not only involves the common concerns of both parties at the strategic level, but also touches on many hot spots in the trade field, reflecting both parties. Broad consensus.

Almost at the same moment when China and the EU issued a joint statement, US President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on US$11 billion in EU products. At this time, negotiations between China and the United States to end the trade war have not yet come to an end. There are still many differences between China and the EU, but the two parties' insistence on maintaining the overall situation of cooperation and handling disputes through consultation is obviously more constructive, which is a positive and positive example for the world today.

Recently, there have been some pessimistic views on EU-China relations in European public opinion, but the actual progress made by the two sides is obviously more descriptive of their relations. President Xi Jinping paid a very successful visit to Europe a few days ago, which further consolidated the positive tone of bilateral relations. The signing of the joint statement at this China-EU summit demonstrates the ability of both sides to make breakthroughs on specific issues.

The joint statement included non-discriminatory market access, protection of intellectual property rights, and 5G technology cooperation, and other issues of high concern to both sides, making the voices of China-EU confrontation even more far-fetched and lacking persuasiveness.

They are all trade frictions. The United States and Europe need to settle against each other's tariffs. However, China and the EU can always keep the negotiation and dialogue in a dominant position. Such differences are not only in the economic sense, but also in the international political sense.

The United States and Europe are allies and are often described as "relatives." However, the troubles caused by unequal relatives may be more disturbing than the problems between harmonious and cooperative friends. A thing called unilateralism has become a prominent challenge in international relations.

China and Europe are the two major economic forces in the world today, but the sum of the two sides' voices seems insufficient. This is worth thinking about. In fact, the common interests of China and Europe are greatly underestimated by Western public opinion, and Western public opinion as a whole is too much dominated by the national interests of the United States, and European interests only get a relatively marginal position in it.

Resolutely expanding cooperation with each other is the only choice for China and Europe, and the way to strengthen cooperation should be mainly through consultation and exploration between China and Europe, and should not be affected by third-party factors. The establishment of this principle is of great significance to the interests of CEIBS.

More specifically, China and Europe must deal with the gravitational field of the United States. Of course, it is unnecessary and impossible for China and Europe to "join hands against the United States." However, neither party in China and Europe should illusion that they can use their relationship with the United States to suppress the other. That is definitely harmful to both China and Europe.

There is no major conflict of interest between China and Europe. Both sides have the willingness to continuously expand mutual benefit and fair cooperation and the true ability to resolve disputes through negotiation. We should be firm in these basic understandings of our relationship. The two sides need to make a sober sorting out of their relationship, and eliminate all kinds of interference from ideology to traditional geopolitical thinking.

It is not a big issue whether there is a joint statement at the China-EU leaders meeting, because some of the previous meetings had joint statements and some did not. However, the trend of continuous development of China-EU relations is consistent. But this time from the rumor that there will be no joint statement to a very comprehensive joint statement, the signal sent at this particular point in time is quite strong.

No matter what the world is going on, no matter how many real problems and confusions there are between China and Europe, the relationship between the two sides will continue and move forward more powerfully. These are probably the strong signals most people receive from it.