China ready to continue to strengthen economic, trade cooperation with EU: spokesperson

China is willing to continue to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with the European Union (EU) and hopes that the EU will firmly honor its commitment to openness, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Mao made the remarks in response to a media query concerning the 18th Europe-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair in Chengdu City of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, which concluded on Friday.

“Since 2002, a total of 18 Europe-China fairs have been held, attracting the participation of over 12,000 Chinese and European companies and reaching over 3,300 tentative cooperation deals. The fair is one of the largest investment, trade, innovation and cooperation platforms between China and Europe, with the most extensive participation from both EU member states and EU businesses,” said Mao. 

“China and the EU are highly complementary economically with deep convergence of interests. Economic and trade cooperation provides the anchor of China-EU relations. Over the past 50 years since the establishment of China-EU diplomatic ties, annual bilateral trade has grown from 2.4 billion U.S. dollars to more than 780 billion U.S. dollars, and the stock of two-way investment has jumped to over 270 billion U.S. dollars. So far, nationals of 25 EU member states can travel to China visa-free. The China Railway Express has run nearly 120,000 trips, reaching more than 200 cities in 26 European countries. The respective strengths of China and the EU enabled mutual benefit and delivered tangibly to people of both sides. We stand ready to continue stepping up economic and trade cooperation with the EU, and promoting the sound and steady development of China-EU relations. We also hope the EU can honor its commitment to openness and seize the important opportunities offered by China’s development,” she said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday extended condolences over a deadly residential building fire in Hong Kong, which killed at least 13 people. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, expressed sympathy to the families of the victims and those affected by the disaster. He urged all-out efforts to extinguish the fire and minimize casualties and losses.

In the wake of the fire, Xi attached great importance to the accident and immediately sought updates on the rescue efforts and casualties. Xi instructed the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to convey his condolences and sympathies to HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee.

He required the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the liaison office to support the HKSAR government in making all-out efforts to put out the fire, do everything possible in search and rescue, treat the injured, and comfort the victims’ families.