Chinese and European youth gather in Beijing on critical role for fostering China-EU relations in the next 50 years

Source: Global Times

Update: Nov 18th, 2025, 8:29 AM

Photo: China-Europe Youth Dialogue held in Beijing on November 17, 2025. Photo: Ma Jingjing/GT

The China-Europe Youth Dialogue was held in Beijing on Monday, attracting several former European political leaders, senior Chinese and European scholars as well as over 100 youth representatives from China and 30 European countries to discuss the critical role of young people in shaping China-EU relations in the next five decades.

The participants agreed that over the past 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and the EU, the two sides have developed friendly cooperation based on seeking common ground while respecting differences and pursuing mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, achieving steady and substantive progress. Europe should objectively recognize China's development and deepen cooperation with China on the basis of mutual respect, according to the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the organizer.

Youth represent the hope and future of China-EU friendship and cooperation. Young people from both sides should strengthen dialogue, build friendships, and strive to contribute to the development of China-EU relations over the next five decades, it noted.

"Young people, with their openness and inclusiveness, are the best envoys for overcoming cognitive barriers," said Zhao Rui, vice president of the CASS, at the opening ceremony of the China-Europe Youth Dialogue 2025.

The relationship between China and Europe will be critical for the future, and it rightly belongs to the next generation, said Grzegorz Kolodko, former deputy prime minister of Poland, noting there is more trust between younger generations and hence greater hope to make changes for the better.

This dialogue is not merely a bilateral exchange but a platform that transcends geographical boundaries. Just as China's achievement of lifting 800 million people out of poverty represents not only national achievement but also a global contribution to humanity's collective progress, Jonathan Schwestka, European director of the Europe-Asia Center, said at the forum, calling for strengthened cooperation between China and the EU. 

The forum also features four subforums for youth from China and European countries to discuss topics including youth and the future of China-EU relations, youth and the future of China-EU economic and trade cooperation, youth and China-EU exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, as well as youth and the future of China-EU scientific and technological cooperation.

Prior to the meeting on Monday, over 60 European representatives visited tech firms, innovation centers as well as traditional cultural streets in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, according to the organizer.

"China is an amazing country and always receives us foreigners very well," Guzman Rodriguez Mateo Danilo, a university student from Norway, who came to China for the second time, told the Global Times on Monday.

Sharing his views on China-EU relations in the next 50 years, he said it is a necessity. "It's not something you can choose," he said, noting "we need to find opportunities, and China is one of them." 

"My impression over the last couple of days was very positive," Sebastian Breitwieser, a youth representative from Austria told the Global Times on the sidelines of the forum on Monday, summing up China as "innovation, friendship and opportunities."