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Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in The Hague, The Netherlands, on Tuesday to attend the Seventh China-EU Leaders' Meeting aimed at strengthening the comprehensive and strategic partnership between the two sides.
This is the first summit between China and the EU since the union's change of leadership.
China's premier held talks with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
In an effort to enhance confidence in the security area, the two sides inked a joint declaration on non-proliferation issues and signed an accord on bilateral cooperation on science and technology.
They have also signed a number of cooperative economic and trade agreements to meet the booming economic and trade ties between the two economies.
The series of high-level meetings and the scope of the results both demonstrate that this year's summit will be one marked by the drafting of a blueprint.
The development of the booming ties between the two should be attributed to the deeply rooted principles of "mutual trust and equality" and shared ideas on a wide range of international issues.
Both advocate peace, dialogue and cooperation. Both are opposed to the use of force to solve disputes. And both insist on acting under the established international mechanisms and principles.
However, a 15-year-old weapons embargo on China by the EU has already become an outstanding issue in the otherwise harmonious Sino-EU relations.
A remnant of the Cold War, this arms embargo, with diminishing legitimacy, is not only incompatible with a prospering China-EU relationship, but will hinder its smooth progress along the course mapped by the leaderships of both sides.
China's demand for the lifting of this arms embargo does not mean that it wants to buy arms from the EU, but rather means its wishes to eliminate the long-standing political discrimination.
The EU is now China's largest trading partner, while China is Europe's second.
Bilateral trade volume in the first three quarters of this year has already surpassed 2003's total.
The potential of the ties between China and the enlarged EU will be greater.
Both sides have attached importance to the relationship.
So it is time for both to pluck up more courage to implement their commitments to each other and draw a clearer and more detailed blueprint for their bilateral strategic partnership.
(China Daily December 9, 2004)
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