A Politically Significant Visit

By LI WEIWEI

A Politically Significant Visit

By LI WEIWEI

Herman Van Rompuy’s recent stopover in China reflects the EU’s intentions to solidify cooperative relations with China

2.我国老年教育发展过程中的不均衡性。有学者指出，我国老年教育发展过程中的不均衡性表现在招收学员和校际发展的不平衡这两个方面。从招收的老年学员成分来看，多数学员是机关干部、知识分子等，而普通城镇居民和农村老人享受继续教育的机会很少。也就是说生活水平和文化素质较高的老年群体正在接受继续教育，不断提高适应现代生活的能力；而生活水平和文化层次较低的老年群体则与现代生活距离较远。在发达地区、中心城市的老年教育、老年大学发展势头良好，而欠发达地区和非中心城市，特别是县乡、尤其是广大农村的老年教育仍然停留在贫乏落后的低水平上。办学水平和教学软硬件条件参差不齐，校际存在巨大差异。

Following the Sino-EUS trategic Dialogue in Budapest on May 12, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy visited China. This visit showed how the EU will emphasize its relationship with China in the years to come.

“My visit to China is the first of ficial bilateral visit of the permanent president of the European Council outside Europe,” said Van Rompuy in Beijing on May 17. Since assuming the council’s presidency more than a year ago, Van Rompuy has been busy handling lingering internal problems from the global fi nancial crisis in the EU.

Chinese leaders arranged a high-level reception for Van Rompuy, fully illustrating China’s political support for European integration, a process that has been ongoing since the 1950s. As a regional organization,the EU has only partial UN rights, such as participating in the UN General Assembly,delivering speeches and submitting bills. The EU, however, is denied voting right.

China supports a stable euro zone. The EU is in urgent need of a replacement for former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned following a scandal on May 18. Once this is accomplished, the IMF will be able to continue its close cooperation with the EU to solve Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. As it stands,some EU members, like Greece, have reached a critical point in the crisis. Without close coordination with the IMF to prevent debt restructuring and revive the world’s confi dence in the euro, the future of the euro will be in jeopardy.

With 27 member states and a combined population of nearly 500 million people, the EU is one of the most important economies in the world. China and the EU have made joint efforts and built a close trade and economic relationship, which is an important component of the Sino-EU comprehensive strategic partnership.

改革开放前我们重视公平而忽视效率，把共同富裕当作同步富裕、同时富裕和同等富裕去追求，导致社会的同步贫穷、同等贫穷，造成分配上的平均主义和“大锅饭”。改革开放后我们追求公平与效率的统一，允许一部分人、一部分地区先富起来，打破了平均主义和“大锅饭”，调动劳动者积极性，解放和发展生产力，引起经济、社会和精神生活的深刻变化。所以，先富起来的办法比平均主义的老办法好，有利于实现先富。

综上所述，苏轼与王安石之争，恰是王安石的“国本主义”与苏轼是一位“民本主义”的分歧所在。显然，这种思想认识上的分歧是无法调和的。而他在《上神宗书》中的冒死相争就成为一种必然。

China, an important member of the IMF,did not challenge the EU’s choice of Christine Lagarde, France’s current fi nance minister, as its preferred candidate for the IMF chief.

During his visit, Van Rompuy appreciated China’s extension of a helping hand to the EU at a time when the EU suffers economic troubles.

Today, the EU is China’s top trade partner,biggest export market, second biggest source of imports, biggest technology supplier and fourth biggest investor. China is the EU’s second largest trade partner, biggest source of imports and second biggest export market.

“I expressed my appreciation to the president for the strong confidence China displayed in the euro area, both with direct investments and through reserve investment policies,” Van Rompuy said, following his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Sino-EU trade has grown rapidly in the past six years. According to statistics from Chinese customs, even in 2008, when the fi nancial crisis was at its zenith, bilateral trade between China and the EU reached $425.58 billion, increasing 19.5 percent from the year before. The fi gure is 9 percentage points and 6.5 percentage points higher respectively than the annual growth rates of Sino-U.S. trade and Sino-Japanese trade in the same year. In 2010,trade volume between China and the EU was nearly $480 billion. In the first quarter this year, their trade grew 22 percent over the same time in 2010, reaching $123.7 billion.

动物疫病监测主要是在指定时间内，对动物疫病的发生、流行以及分布等因素进行调查。同时，对所采集的样本采用国家规定的标准方法进行疫病的诊断，使我国动物防疫人员能了解该疫病的发生、流行趋势以及变化规律。当防疫人员了解这些信息资料后，就能提出相应的解决对策。在动物疫病防控工作中，动物疫病监测极其关键，只有相关部门切实提高动物疫病的监测水平，才能为后期的疫病防治工作打下基础。

Trade and economic cooperation promotes the interests of and bene fi ts both sides.The EU’s role in coordinating member states’foreign trade policies has contributed greatly to burgeoning trade and economic relations between China and the EU. The two sides held the fi rst Sino-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue at the vice-premier level in Beijing in 2008. In 2010, they upgraded their Strategic Dialogue aimed at addressing strategic and political issues to a dialogue between China’s state councilor and the EU foreign policy chief.

Both China and the EU recently issued new development strategies—Europe 2020 and China’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).Both emphasize looking for new economic growth engines to foster a green economy.

“It is very encouraging that China has decided to gradually implement a carbon-market mechanism as one key tool for reducing industrial emissions cost-effectively. We will engage with our Chinese counterparts in order to further explore their intentions,” said EU Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard in March .

In 2010, trade volume between China and the EU was nearly $480 billion. In the first quarter this year,their trade grew 22 percent over the same time in 2010, reaching $123.7 billion

The author is an associate research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies