Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi File photo: Xinhua

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a video conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Thursday, during which Wang urged Brussels to cast aside all obstructions and push bilateral ties forward, and reiterated China's stance on issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and human rights, saying that China confronts all sorts of hypocritical "lecturers."

The conference was held as the European Parliament adopted on Thursday night a resolution on Hong Kong, only a few days after leaders from China, Germany and France held a video summit and injected positive energy into China-EU ties. Analysts said the high-level positive interaction between China and EU aims to push forward bilateral ties and stop it from being hijacked by anti-China hawks. 

During his conversation with Borell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Wang said that there is no major conflict, nor geopolitical rivalry between China and the EU. Both sides should uphold the principle of mutual respect and seek common ground while shelving differences, said Wang, noting Beijing and Brussels should cast aside all obstructions and push forward ties, and that Beijing supports Brussels to independently conduct cooperation with China. 

Wang noted that high-level exchange mechanism between the two should play a leading role and firing positive signals to boost confidence in the bilateral cooperation. Wang pointed the key fields for China and the EU to deepen cooperation and negotiation, namely COVID-19 vaccines, green economy and upcoming summits on climate change and environmental protection.

The Chinese foreign minister reiterated China's stance on issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and human rights, stating that China opposes all kinds of hypocritical "preachers."

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a broad new resolution on Hong Kong, advocating tough measures be taken over the closure of the Apple Daily. 

The measures are not binding, but are a set of recommendations to the European Commission and the Council of the EU, Wang Yiwei, director of the institute of international affairs at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times, noting that those are the noises that impact China-EU ties. "So you can see many times when such incidents emerge to shadow relations, high-level conferences will follow to make sure the bilateral ties won't be hijacked by such squabble, and head forward," said Wang.

Borell also said that the EU has no intention of engaging in structural confrontation, does not recognize new "Cold War" nor "small coterie," nor does Brussels want to throw China-EU tie into further instability. Cooperation between Beijing and Brussels is fundamental and strategic. 

The EU foreign policy chief agreed to manage disputes, rather than letting those disputes stand in the way of cooperation.