President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on China and the European Union to provide more stability and certainty for the world through steady and sound China-EU relations.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with European Council president Antonio Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who are here for the 25th China-EU Summit in Beijing.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic ties and the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, Xi said China-EU relations have come to another critical juncture in history.

He said over the past 50 years, China and the EU have achieved fruitful outcomes in exchanges and cooperation, delivering mutual success and worldwide benefits, and an important understanding and insight is that the two sides should respect each other, seek commonality while reserving differences, uphold openness and cooperation, and pursue mutual benefit.

These are also important principles and the right direction for China-EU relations in the future, Xi said.

Faced with accelerating global transformation not seen in a century and a changing and turbulent world, Chinese and EU leaders should once again demonstrate vision and leadership and make the right strategic choices that will meet people's expectations and stand the scrutiny of history, he added.

Xi underscored the importance for China and the EU, both constructive forces for multilateralism and openness and cooperation, to strengthen communication, enhance trust and deepen cooperation in a more challenging and complex international situation, in order to provide more stability and certainty for the world through steady and sound China-EU relations.

Both as "big guys" in the international community, China and the EU should keep their bilateral relationship growing in the right direction, and work together to usher it into an even brighter next 50 years, he said.

The two sides also issued a joint statement with the leaders underscoring the importance that "all countries, notably the major economies maintain policy continuity and stability and step up efforts to address climate change".

They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as energy transition, adaptation, methane emissions management and control, carbon markets, and green and low-carbon technologies.

In a separate meeting, Premier Li Qiang said cooperation should be "the keynote" of China-EU relations "no matter how the international landscape evolves".

He was quoted as telling European leaders that Beijing and Brussels "have extensive common interests and no fundamental conflict", and that the international economy and trade still stay dynamic as long as both sides "earnestly uphold free trade". (Additional reporting by Xinhua)
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Last updated: 2025-07-24 HKT 20:53