Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has concluded his week-long official trip to Europe with an eventful day in Britain on Monday. He called the visit a "trip of confidence" which yielded many successful results on Sino-European relations.
The UK was the last stop of Premier Wen Jiabao's five-nation European tour. During his time in London, Wen held talks with his British counterpart Gordon Brown on various issues, mainly focusing on the financial crisis. Premier Wen also met with a wide range of people from political, business and financial circles of Britain, and delivered a speech at the University of Cambridge.
The trip is a return visit for Brown's China tour early last year. It is also aimed at implementing the annual meeting mechanism of the two leaders.
After their talks on Monday, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing to strengthen cooperation and actively deal with the global financial crisis. The statement reaffirms the two countries' determination to further develop their comprehensive strategic partnership. Both sides say they will take necessary action to foster sustainable economic growth and work together to improve the regulation of the global financial system.
The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to open markets and free trade, agreeing that protectionist policies, through trade and investment barriers or competitive currency devaluation, would only serve to deepen the global recession.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said, "Prime Minister Brown and I shared the view that our common interest far outweighs our differences. The China-UK relationship has gone beyond a bilateral scope and is having an increasingly important impact on the whole world."
British Minister Gordon Brown said, "Premier Wen and I share the common commitment, countries in the world should follow."
Premier Wen's European tour began last Tuesday and took him to Switzerland, Germany, the EU headquarters in Brussels, Spain and Britain. The trip set out China's determination to maintain its reform and opening up, boost economic development, deepen Sino-EU cooperation and join hands with international community to work through the financial crisis.
Wen Jiabao said he met with European leaders for substantial talks on issues of common concern and achieved fruitful results. He pledged that China and the EU strengthen cooperation to face challenges and tackle problems that the world faces.
(CCTV February 4, 2009)
