China, Europe vow to boost cooperation

ATHENS, Sept 05 (Xinhua): As China and the European Union (EU) celebrate 45 years of relations this year, the two sides vow to expand bilateral trade and investment, deepen cooperation on post-epidemic economic recovery and promote multilateralism during the recent back-to-back European visits by two top Chinese foreign policy officials.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee visited Spain and Greece on Sept. 3-4, closely following Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's trip to five other European countries which concluded on Sept. 1.

At a time when Europe is tamping down a resurge of COVID-19 infections, jointly fighting the pandemic and seeking recovery in the post-epidemic era is a common issue discussed at the meetings the two Chinese officials held separately with leaders and high-level officials from the seven European countries.

Cooperation is the way they all agreed to. China has shown its spirit of cooperation and solidarity during the past months when it mobilized large quantities of medical supplies and rushed to some European countries' aid to fight the virus.

During their respective meeting with Yang, both Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked China for its assistance and support in their fight against COVID-19, saying that such deeds helped strengthen bilateral relations.