Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Photo: Xinhua

 
Political confrontation and economic decoupling with China go against the interests of Europe, as cooperation is the general direction and keynote of bilateral relations, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an address to an online session on China at the Munich Security Conference on Tuesday.

"The China-EU investment agreement is highly mutually beneficial, not a unilateral gift. The Xinjiang-related issue bears on China's sovereignty and security. Attempts by some in the EU to link up issues of different nature and turn trade issues into political ones are not acceptable and would lead nowhere," Wang said.  

China regards Europe as a partner rather than an opponent, Wang stressed. Political confrontation and economic decoupling between China and the EU are not in the interests of the European side and cannot be long-lasting, he added.

"We are willing to expand all-round cooperation with Europe on the basis of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results," he said.

Some deliberately depict China-EU relations as a battle between "democracy and authoritarianism," but drawing lines based on values is unobjective and irrational. The benchmark for democracy and human rights is whether the people of the country are satisfied, Wang said. 

Peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom are the common values of all mankind and the common goal pursued by all countries. These values cannot be labelled or patented by some individual countries, the Chinese State Councilor said. 

Global Times