To promote China-EU exchanges, deepen mutual understanding, and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union launched the “China Briefing” Series in Brussels, with two sessions successfully held in November 2025 and April 2026 respectively. The two sessions featured distinguished keynote speakers Mr. Miao Wei and Mr. Ma Jiantang, both members of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Deputy Directors of its Economic Committee. They provided a comprehensive overview of China’s achievements in economic and social development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, offered in-depth interpretations of the blueprint and arrangements for advancing Chinese modernization during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and elaborated on the broad opportunities brought by China’s pursuit of high-quality development and higher-standard opening up for China-EU economic and trade cooperation.
The events were warmly received by officials from EU institutions, Members of the European Parliament, think tank scholars, media representatives, and other distinguished guests from various sectors. Both sessions were attended to full capacity and featured lively and substantive exchanges. Participants expressed strong confidence in China’s economic prospects and conveyed their expectation for further deepening the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU.
China stands ready to work with the EU side to deepen mutually complementary cooperation
The year 2026 marks the opening year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan and also a new starting point for the next 50 years of China-EU relations. Early this year, President Xi Jinping reached a series of important consensus with several European leaders, charting the course and providing strategic guidance for the development of China-Europe relations. In the face of a complex and challenging external environment, China’s economy remains on a solid footing, with multiple strengths, strong resilience, and vast potential. The fundamentals supporting its long-term growth and its overall positive trajectory remain unchanged. The new development of China’s economy will create fresh opportunities for China-EU cooperation.
China stands ready to work with the EU side to expand the pie of cooperation. With a population of more than 1.4 billion and a middle-income group exceeding 400 million, China offers the world’s largest and most promising consumer market. Preliminary estimates suggest that by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China’s total consumption of goods and services will reach RMB 64 trillion, while imports of goods are expected total RMB 24 trillion. China’s 15th Five-Year Plan places a strong emphasis on “implementing the strategy of expanding domestic demand.” As China continues to unlock new potential for growing domestic demand, the dividends of its supersized market will be further unleashed, creating a broader market for high-quality European products and services.
China stands ready to work with the EU side to deepen mutually complementary cooperation. High-quality development is a central theme running throughout China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which identifies smart, green, and integrated development as key priorities. This strongly aligns with the EU’s focus on enhancing competitiveness and advancing the green and digital transitions. China boasts a large-scale application market, diverse application scenarios and rapid iteration capabilities in artificial intelligence and digital economy, while Europe possesses a profound foundation in basic research, a rich talent pool and well-established regulatory frameworks. The two sides therefore have enormous potential for cooperation in these fields. Green is the defining colour of Chinese modernization, and Europe has long been at the forefront of the global green transition. China and the EU have a solid foundation for green cooperation, and are well-positioned to make greater contributions to global sustainable development.
China stands ready to work with the EU side to improve the quality and efficiency of bilateral cooperation. China will steadily expand institutional opening-up, align itself with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and foster a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized. China is committed to expanding voluntary opening-up and will further shorten the negative list for foreign investment. The EU has rich experience and high-quality supply in the services sector, which is also a key focus for China’s future opening-up efforts. China will further expand opening-up in sectors such as healthcare, telecommunications, education, finance and insurance. China will also advance unilateral opening-up in a well-ordered manner. At present, China has implemented a unilateral visa-free policy for 50 countries including EU member states, to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges. China regards Europe as an important partner in advancing Chinese modernization, and welcomes the EU to share in the opportunities brought by China’s high-standard opening-up.
The year 2026 marks the opening year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan and also a new starting point for the next 50 years of China-EU relations
Given the large scale and broad scope of China-EU economic and trade cooperation, differences and frictions are inevitable. The key is to properly address them through dialogue and consultation in line with the important consensus reached by the leaders of both sides. China is convinced that as long as the two sides work with each other in the same direction, the trade imbalance between China and the European side can be properly addressed in the course of dynamic development.
The “China Briefing” Series has opened up a new window for European friends to gain a better understanding of China and China-EU relations. The Chinese side welcomes more European friends to attend the future events of the “China Briefing” Series. Through in-depth exchanges, the two sides can enhance mutual understanding, build broader consensus on cooperation, and pool greater synergy for development, so as to jointly write a new chapter in China-EU relations.
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