Recently, China has carried out diplomatic interactions with many EU countries, reviewed the development experience of China-EU trade over the past 50 years, and conducted rational discussions on bilateral trade cooperation, sending a positive signal to the international community of jointly practicing multilateralism and safeguarding free trade, indicating that there is still much room for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe.
China-EU trade is the result of free development under the market environment, and gradually forms a stable situation of complementary advantages. The two sides have long been important trading partners of each other. The EU has always been the main source of imports of Chinese consumer goods and the main export market for Chinese electromechanical products. This is the objective result of the international division of labor and cooperation between the two sides, and it is also the independent choice made by consumers in various countries. According to the data in 2024, China's exports to the EU are still dominated by electronic products, mechanical equipment, etc. For example, in the past winter, Chinese heat pump products were popular due to their good quality, reliable performance, and diverse choices, which greatly met the needs of various consumer groups in Europe.
China never deliberately pursues a trade surplus. On the contrary, China has also actively held the China International Import Expo, the China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo, etc., to continue to promote high-level opening up to the outside world, and welcomes all countries to better share China's super-large market with a population of more than 1.4 billion. With the deep integration of the China-Europe industrial chain and supply chain, trade data alone can no longer fully reflect the distribution of benefits in bilateral trade. As a result of the continuous expansion and opening up of the Chinese market, many European companies have gradually increased the scale and intensity of production in China in recent years, and have placed more emphasis on localized production to serve the needs of the Chinese market, replacing some European goods exports to China to a certain extent. In addition, as of April 2024, more than one-third of the exports of European companies in China are sold back to Europe. On the surface, China has a trade surplus, but in fact a considerable part of the profits are shared by the European side.
Although some foreign politicians and media see the so-called "threat" instead of win-win in the close economic and trade ties between China and Europe, and advocate anxiety about trade imbalances, ignoring the reality of mutual benefit and win-win between the two sides, their essence is still difficult to get rid of the ideological and geopolitical perspective, exaggerating the economic competition between China and Europe and ignoring the integration of China-Europe interests. It should be noted that the competition between China and Europe is not a full-industry, high-intensity and disorderly competition, and complementarity is still greater than competitiveness. Green, digital and other fields have become new fulcrums for the development of trade between the two sides. Relying on their respective advantages such as huge economic scale, complete industrial system and technological innovation capabilities, China and Europe have every opportunity to achieve the integration of supply chain, industrial chain and value chain at a higher level.
At a time when global trade is facing challenges, the EU, as an export-oriented, outward-looking economy, cannot avoid cooperation with China. At present, China is firmly expanding its opening up to the outside world, fully connecting with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and gradually expanding the opening up of telecommunications, education, medical care and other fields. Faced with the challenges of economic operation, China announced that it will implement a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy. With the implementation of these major policy measures, China's market confidence has been effectively boosted, and international organizations such as the World Bank have raised their expectations for China's economic growth. The super-large Chinese market welcomes European companies to invest and start businesses, and explore areas of economic and trade cooperation with huge potential such as artificial intelligence, green environmental protection, and high-end equipment.
Spring brings flowers and autumn brings fruits. Today, unilateralism and protectionism threaten the momentum of world economic recovery. The strategic significance and global influence of China-EU relations accumulated over 50 years are more prominent. 2025 is an important year for China-EU relations. We should make full use of this key node and continue to carry forward the spirit of economic and trade cooperation based on complementary advantages and mutual benefit. I believe that more good things will happen between China and Europe.
