SUZHOU, April 23 -- Vice minister Li Jinjun of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee hosted a joint working luncheon today for part of the leaders of center-right European political parties attending the fourth China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum.

European party leaders at the luncheon included Thierry Mariani, vice-president of the Union for a Popular Movement of France, Charles Michel, chair of the Reformist Movement of Belgium, Benk Korthals, chair of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy of the Netherlands, Matos Rosa, secretary-general of the Social Democratic Party of Portugal, Werner Amon, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Group of the Austrian People's Party in the National Council of Austria, Avelof Neofytou, executive vice-president of the Democratic Rally of Cyprus, Manolis Kefalogiannis, secretary-general of the New Democracy Party of Greece, and Anna Rosbach, member of the Executive Board of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament.

Li thanked the party leaders for their parties' participation in the forum. He said that the Chinese side hopes to send three messages to the European side: first, although China is growing stronger, it remains a developing country in the initial process of urbanization and industrialization, while European countries, which have already finished this process, have many lessons of experience that could be drawn by China; second, both China and Europe are in a crucial period of development, as the 12th Five-Year Plan and the "Europe 2020" strategy have set a broad stage for cooperation, on which China and Europe should jointly expand cooperation and strive for a healthy competition; third, China and Europe should have long-term, comprehensive, and strategic cooperation, which calls for concerted efforts from both sides toward building a community of shared destiny based on mutual benefit.

The European side recognized the importance of the forum in promoting China-Europe party-to-party relations, and expressed surprise and appreciation over the Chinese side's openness to discussions of both achievements and problems of China. The party leaders also said that they expect the forum to be continued in the future as a venue for in-depth exchanges over issues of common interest.

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