They also said that amid current global uncertainties and geopolitical changes, the EU is ready to deepen its partnership with China, strengthen interaction and cooperation, uphold the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, join hands to address common challenges, and promote world peace, security, prosperity and sustainable development, according to Xinhua News Agency.

　　Also on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian confirmed that China and the European Parliament have decided to simultaneously and comprehensively lift restrictions on mutual exchanges between the two sides' legislative bodies.

　　“We believe and expect that with the full resumption of contacts between the legislative bodies of China and Europe, the exchanges and understanding between the two sides will be deeper,“ he added.

　　Ding Chun, director of Shanghai-based Fudan University's Center for European Studies, said, “This is one of the best ways to mark the 50th anniversary of China-EU relations.

　　“I expect both sides to seek more common ground, phase out differences, steadily advance bilateral ties and, in particular, advance the improvement and finalization of the frozen China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment,“ he added.

　　China and the EU have a combined economic output of more than one-third of the world's total output, and their two-way trade exceeds one-fourth of total world trade.

　　Annual bilateral trade has grown from $2.4 billion when the diplomatic ties were established to $785.8 billion last year.

　　Furthermore, the accumulated two-way investment has increased to $260 billion.