During Jose Manuel Barroso's fourth China tour in 12 years and his first visit as a new EU Commission President, he got a message from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that China hopes to forge a strategic dialogue mechanism with the European Union.

In fact, China, as the largest developing country with a soaring economy, is seeking more such dialogue with the world's major powers in a bid to facilitate its own economic and social progress and play a bigger role in the international arena.

Shen Jiru, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Science, said that the strategic dialogue mechanism is a new type of high-level exchange, which helps presidents, prime ministers and other senior officials regularly discuss hot topics in the fields of politics, economy, defense, finance and even environmental protection.

China has forged such or a similar dialogue mechanism with major powers such as France, Russia and the United States and other countries including India, Pakistan, Japan, Australia and Republic of Korea, according to Fu Mengzi, director of the institute of American studies under the China Academy of Contemporary International Relations.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart George W. Bush agreed last year to push forward such a dialogue, which helped the two countries enhance cooperation in anti-terrorism and the Korean nuclear issue.

China has also vowed to strengthen such a dialogue and coordination with France, according to a joint statement issued by presidents of the two countries in 2004.

Meanwhile, Chinese leaders have frequently met with leaders of other countries in summit meetings.

In an era of globalization, big countries and major powers share increasing common interests and challenges, which fuel the strategic dialogue between them on bilateral, multi-lateral or even global issues such as cracking down on cross-border crimes, anti-terrorism and coping with global warming, Fu said.

Such dialogue will promote mutual-understanding between China and other countries though China is sometimes seen as a threat because of its growing economy, he said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2005)