On May 6, 2004, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council held talks with the President of European Commission (EC) Romano Prodi at the EC headquarters. The two sides exchanged views in an in-depth manner on further enriching and developing China-EU comprehensive partnership.
Wen Jiabao congratulated the EU for its expansion of the largest scale in history. He said
Wen Jiabao proposed five-point proposals on further promoting the development of China-EU relations.
First, to enhance discussions on strategic issues between Chinese and EU leaders. The two sides need to conduct dialogue and consultation on China-EU relations after the EU's enlargement, establishment of a just and fair international order, the enhancement of the role of the United Nations, counter terrorism, non-proliferation as well as the crackdown of cross-border crimes. Meanwhile, the two sides need to maintain close contact and collaboration in important issues such as the process of Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and multilateral trade negotiations.
Second, to expand China-EU economic and technological cooperation.
Third, to improve the legal basis and assurance mechanisms for China-EU cooperation. While ensuring the smooth development of existing cooperation mechanisms,
Fourth, to boost comprehensive exchanges between
Fifth, to improve consultation mechanisms on the effective settlement of differences.
Prodi warmly welcomed Premier Wen for his first visit to the EU and agreed with his views on EU-China relations. He said EU-China ties have been developing much faster than the rapidly growing bilateral economic and trade relations. Last year, the two sides decided to develop comprehensive strategic partnership. The EU will adopt substantive steps to push forward the comprehensive development of the relations. As strategic partners, the EU and
During the talks, Wen Jiabao introduced the situation of
On May 5, Wen Jiabao met with Janvier Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the EU and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The two sides exchanged views on China-EU relations, the Middle-East issue, the Iraqi question as well as the