European parliament calls for closer tie with China

The European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday vowed a closer tie with China to better tackle global challenges and called for accelerating bilateral business talks.

The two sides "must work more closely together" to jointly address international challenges and threats such as "terrorism, illegal migration, security, climate change and global financial and market governance," said a statement released by the parliament on the sidelines of a plenary meeting in Strasbourg.

"The great importance of solid relations between the EU and China is evident," said Bas Belder, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliament and also the rapporteur of a China-related report which was voted in favor of by the majority of the parliament members earlier this day.

The EP hailed the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the EU and China and said that the 17th EU-China Summit on June 29 sent a signal for "closer political cooperation going beyond mere trade relations and towards a coordinated strategic approach to tackling common global challenges and threats," said the statement.

"The EP calls on EU countries to make better use of the opportunities offered by the growth of the Chinese economy in the past 20 years," it noted.

The parliament also stressed the importance of the current talks on EU-China bilateral investment agreement, saying the deal would pave the way for fair treatment of companies in both Europe and China.

Besides, it called for measures to further promote people-to-people exchanges, "particularly between experts and students." Endit