On June 22, China and the EU held the 22nd China EU Summit via video. On June 23, Gai Lin, Secretary General of the EU China Friendship Association, received an exclusive interview with our reporter on the meeting and expressed the following views:

Gai Lin, Secretary General of EU China Friendship Association

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the EU. This meeting is the first meeting between Chinese leaders and the new EU leaders. Therefore, the 22nd China EU Summit is of great significance. In the post epidemic period, the meeting was held on schedule by means of video conference to overcome difficulties, reflecting that China and the EU attach great importance to each other and regard each other as important strategic partners.

This year's public health events have caused great damage to the economies of all countries. While fighting the epidemic hand in hand, China and the EU need closer and more pragmatic cooperation than ever before. In particular, China and the EU need to establish deeper, broader, more scientific and more effective cooperation in medical, biological science, big data, artificial intelligence, food import and export, commodity trade, tourism, culture and other fields, so as to help the two sides resume economic development in the post epidemic period.

This shows that under the current situation, China and the EU attach great importance to their cooperation, especially in the post epidemic period, laying a solid foundation for the smooth development of future cooperation.

The summit also further enhanced mutual understanding between China and the EU, dispelled differences and focused on consensus. The summit is more conducive to the early conclusion of the free investment agreement being negotiated between China and the EU.

The EU China Friendship Association will play a unique role in the European Parliament in accordance with the spirit of the summit, help European parliamentarians understand China rationally and objectively, and enhance exchanges between parliamentarians and China, so as to support broader, deeper, more scientific and more effective cooperation between China and Europe in various fields at the political level.