Significance of Li Keqiang's Europe trip

The premier's visit comes at a time when the Ukrainian crisis is still developing towards an uncertain future and the aftermath of the economic crisis still lingers in Europe. Add these factors to the negative impact of Germany's sanctions against Russia, and it is easy to see why Berlin is having trouble keeping its growth rate high.

There is no doubt that Li's visit will touch upon Sino-German economic ties, which will in turn solve some existing difficulties in bilateral trade.

However, the summit meeting cannot unfold as blissfully as many have expected, because China and Germany still have many differences in the economic sector. Germany has maintained a negative view of China's market access system and is concerned about China's anti-monopoly probes on German firms operating in China.

Expected talks on Ukraine

China's reaction to the Ukrainian crisis has been a constant concern of the international community, especially Europe, since the first outbreak of conflict. Li Keqiang's visit to Europe serves as a chance for European countries to hear China's views on the Ukrainian crisis directly.

Angela Merkel spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone many times during the earlier stages of the conflict, trying to reach a solution, but those efforts proved futile. The German chancellor also called Chinese President Xi Jinping, seeking China's active support for a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis, although it was also Merkel's intention to get Xi to soften Putin's tough stance on the issue.

But it seems implausible to have China influence Moscow's responses in the EU-Russian contention over Ukraine, because China does not possess the influence or mechanism to dissuade either side from holding its position in this situation.

Promoting the Silk Road Economic Belt concept

During Li's European tour, he will also attend the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting summit in Milan on Oct. 16-17. Before the summit, think tanks from China and other Asian and European countries have held several meetings to discuss the current situation and future outlook of the ASEM. For China, the ASEM could be an important platform to promote its Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road concepts.

Most of the ASEM members are actually located along the Silk Road Economic Belt, and they should therefore take an interest in participating in the economic region's construction, injecting new power into the ASEM summit.

At present, there is no clear-cut mechanism or system for the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt, but ASEM could be a mature mechanism to promote the interconnection and mutual trust between nations that is necessary for the realization of the project. Therefore, the upcoming ASEM summit will likely reach a consensus on Silk Road Economic Belt construction in addition to gaining a range of achievements on that issue.

The writer 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 first published in Chinese and translated by Chen Boyuan and Lin Liyao.