Sound, stable ties needed to tackle global challenges

The year 2024 witnessed a series of high-level meetings between China and Europe, with more than a dozen European state leaders and senior officials paying visits and engaging in bilateral discussions with their Chinese counterparts.

In May, President Xi Jinping embarked on a trip to France, Serbia and Hungary, strengthening China-Europe mutual trust and promoting pragmatic collaboration.

Amid the increase in high-level communications between China and Europe, senior officials and experts have urged the two sides to further their strategic dialogue and win-win cooperation, because sound and stable China-Europe relations, they emphasized, are beneficial to global prosperity and crucial to tackling global challenges.

"Europe holds an important position in China's diplomatic agenda. A healthier and more stable China-Europe relationship serves the fundamental interests of both sides and the common aspiration of the world," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the Symposium on the International Situation and China's Foreign Relations on Dec 17.

Calling Xi's Europe trip "historic", Wang noted its achievements: advancing the 60-year-old China-France diplomatic relationship into a new phase, reinforcing the "ironclad friendship" between China and Serbia, and elevating China-Hungary ties to an "all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era".

Peace, development and exchanges topped the agenda of Xi's visits, which were warmly welcomed by the host countries.