Liu Yandong, China's State Councilor, and Androulla Vassiliou, EU commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, sign a joint declaration in which China and the EU are committed to furthering exchanges between their peoples to deepen mutual understanding, in Brussels, capital of Belgium, April 18, 2012. [Xinhua]

The successful first meeting of a high-level mechanism on cultural exchanges and dialogue between China and the European Union in April, after nearly a year in preparation, is an important indication of the deepening China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

Soon after it was formally launched, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang made successive visits to Europe. While meeting with their European counterparts, both leaders repeatedly highlighted the significance of strengthening China-EU cultural exchanges and dialogue, and received positive responses.

As the third pillar for deepening China-EU cooperation besides the established high-level economic and trade dialogue and strategic dialogue, the China-EU high-level mechanism on cultural exchanges and dialogue is designed to further enhance bilateral people-to-people cooperation, and bring a number of cooperative programs that have achieved initial results into the framework of the mechanism.

The existing dialogue frameworks in terms of education, culture and youth have yielded fruits in recent years and a series of major China-EU cultural events were successful. In 2011, the EU-China Year of Youth was launched and in February 2012, the EU-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue was launched in Brussels to further boost mutual understanding and cultural cooperation. It is the second themed year following the success of the Year of Youth.

The mechanism on China-EU high-level cultural exchanges and dialogue will have a significant impact on carrying out major exchange programs, as well as on understanding each other's education systems. Through more systematic and institutionalized planning, the contents of cultural exchanges between the two sides will become richer, and the level and quality will be further improved. This is another forward-looking initiative aimed at deepening and expanding the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

Strengthening people-to-people exchanges can bring both peoples a more comprehensive and objective perception of each other, which is an important basis for enhancing mutual understanding and respect. Since 2008, centering on issues concerning Tibet and human rights, China-EU relations once encountered twists and turns, and misunderstanding and suspicion between people of the two sides also rose to a certain degree.

BBC public opinion polls in recent years have shown a marked decline in the European public's goodwill toward China. Reports from Chinese research institutions also show that the Chinese people are unhappy with Europe's negative views of China, and Europe's deepening internal doubts about the rise of China and its external behavior.

To improve the foundation of public goodwill requires not only high-level official contacts and dialogue, but also more public participation and communication. This can be improved through implementing specific pragmatic cultural exchanges and collaborative projects and extensive people-to-people contacts. Cultural exchanges can play the role of a bridge between the peoples in China and the EU, and in the long run the mechanism can contribute remarkably to mutual trust and cooperation between China and Europe.

The positioning of cultural exchanges as the third pillar of the China-EU partnership is based on the strategic choice of developing long-term China-EU relations, and reflects the eagerness of both people to understand each other. As an integral part of cultural exchanges, strengthening education exchanges and cooperation between China and the EU has practical significance.

There are high hopes for the recently launched China-EU high-level mechanism on cultural exchanges and dialogue in this regard, and the two sides would like to ensure a higher level of mutually beneficial exchanges and deeper cooperation in promoting cross-border flows of students and researchers between China and the EU.

Not only should there be more exchanges between students, teachers and researchers, but also more effective support measures to make China a more attractive study destination for European students.

Strengthening China-EU cultural exchanges, especially education exchanges and cooperation, will have a positive role in the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. As one working in the education sector, I experienced this myself, when, with the support of the China-EU Higher Education Cooperation Program, I became one of the first batch of scholars going to Europe for exchanges in 1998.

Chinese students are increasingly interested in Europe and China-EU relations. I believe that with the start of the China-EU high-level mechanism on cultural exchanges and dialogue, the younger generation in Europe will become more interested in knowing China.

The author is a researcher with the Center for European Studies, Renmin University of China.

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