Recently, a symposium on China-Germany relations was held in Shanghai. Scholars exchanged viewpoints on such issues as China-Germany relations, China-Europe relations and cultural exchanges between China and European countries.

Wang Shuo, deputy director of the Institute of European Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), said that as changes in Europe’s internal and external environment have accelerated, China-Europe relations have entered a new age. Some major adjustments in mutual understanding and related policies have occurred. With such profound changes, China and Europe will face opportunities and challenges alike.

Xin Hua, executive deputy director of the Center for EU Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, said that as the EU’s demand for cooperation with China continues to increase, China-Europe economic relations will share a bright future. Zheng Chunrong, director of the Center for Germany Studies at Tongji University, said that the adjustments and changes of Germany’s industrial policies will have a tremendous impact on the EU’s future industrial policies. Meanwhile, as Germany’s competitiveness in emerging technologies increases, China and Germany might engage in fiercer competition in some key technologies. How to coordinate competition and cooperation in technological fields is key to China-Germany relations and win-win cooperation between the two nations.

Sun Keqin, a research fellow at CICIR, said that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. International patterns and relations will experience fundamental transformations and both certainty and uncertainty. Against such a backdrop, China-Germany relations are key to the two nations’ stability, the promotion of cooperation in global governance and the stability of the international situation.

Yu Zhouming, a research fellow of the Center for Germany Studies at Tongji University, said that with an unprecedentedly close connection between China and Germany, people foresee innumerable great achievements in the fields of education, scientific research and culture. To promote cultural exchanges between the two nations on such a basis, Chinese scholars need to enhance their research on Germany, promote their understanding of German history and Germany’s national conditions, and strengthen their capacity for cross-cultural communication.