Key areas of Xi Jinping's European tour

Possible proposals China may put forward during Xi's tour

For starters, China may propose to strengthen bilateral cooperation in global economic governance within the G20 and the WTO frameworks. The EU will certainly be in support of such a proposal, which is different from the U.S. practice of throwing away the current rules of international trade in favor of another amendment. China and the EU have already made this view clear in the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. During this meeting, both sides may strengthen coordination in and consultation on specific areas.

In addition, China may propose the construction of a trade friction early warning mechanism. The PV trade dispute last year cast a great shadow on China-EU relations. In this regard, China may suggest establishing an early warning mechanism on major trade frictions, under which both sides could use existing bilateral mechanisms to enhance communication and avoid the abuse of trade protection measures. In this way, trade disputes can be resolved in a fair and objective manner.

Then, China may propose to carry out bilateral cooperation across various specialty areas such as the promotion of pan-European cooperation in transportation infrastructure, agriculture and finance.

On a final note then, China is likely to actively undertake a series of promotional activities to reverse the negative international public opinion towards the nation. Big powers have suffered most from the wars, yet have gained unique experiences from them as well. China can take this as common ground and promote China's concept of peaceful development. To this end, China may propose to jointly organize a series of commemorative activities.

The author is an associate professor with and deputy head of the Department of Central and Eastern European Studies, Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The article was written in Chinese and translated by Li Huiru.