FILE – In this October 28, 2019 file photo, the European Union flag outside the Palace of Westminster in London, England. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

China and the European Union (EU) are partners, not rivals, and China-EU cooperation should be a positive cycle that enables mutual success, not a knockout game where only one winner wins, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday. .

Spokesman Wang Wenbin made the comments at a daily press conference when asked about the latest report from France’s Jacques Delors Institute. The report notes that for the EU, leveraging China for its own development is a necessary choice. He called on the EU to always be rational in “mitigating risks”, maintaining a more rational and pragmatic policy towards China, and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of energy, green sectors and technology.

“This report reflects that the far-sighted European public views positively the prospects for improving relations between China and the EU and that the relations have a strong people-to-people foundation,” Wang said.

Certain individuals selectively highlight aspects of competition between China and the EU, deliberately ignoring the partnership and exaggerating “risk reduction” with China and reducing dependence on China, Wang said, adding that misunderstandings about China will not only strengthen misunderstandings and erode feelings mutual trust. but it also goes against the EU’s long-held stance of upholding free trade rules and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and interferes with the growth of China-EU relations, thereby benefiting no one’s interests.

Wang said China believes that the risk we most need to eliminate is confrontation and competition caused by the politicization of all affairs, and the dependency we most need to reduce is protectionism. China and the EU are important parts of the global industrial and supply chain and are powerful forces in building an open world economy.

Wang expressed his hope that the EU can listen to rational voices, avoid politicizing all issues or exaggerate the concept of security, and work with China to maintain two-way openness instead of building walls and barriers, pushing for trade liberalization and investment rather than trade. protectionism, creating a fair, equal and non-discriminatory business environment for companies on both sides, promoting the strong and stable growth of China-EU relations, and bringing greater stability and certainty into a turbulent and turbulent world.

(Web editor: Zhao Jian, 周雨)