Interview: It's "fascinating" to promote EU-China ties

When Dirk Sterckx was elected as chairman of the delegation for relations with China within the European Parliament (EP) in September 2004, he was astonished that he had never visited China before.

After one year and a half, however, Sterckx said that serving as the delegation chairman and promoting the relations between the European Union (EU) and China is "interesting" and "fascinating".

"Of course, it is very interesting, and it is fascinating," Sterckx said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

Sterckx, 60, was elected an EP member in 1999 and he got re- elected in 2004.

Before he set foot in politics, Sterckx had worked as a teacher and journalist. At that time, Sterckx knew China merely through " news reporting" and he had never expected that one day he would be deeply involved in the affairs with China.

The delegation of relations with China under the chairmanship of Sterckx, with 59 EP members, is the second largest such delegation in the EP, just after that with the United States.

"Now everybody talks about China. Of course, people also talk about India, India is also important, but it is not the same with China," said Sterckx.

"I think it (referring to serving as chairman of the delegation of relations with China) is a bit of high," said Sterckx.

As the delegation chief, Sterckx believes that it is his duty" to "arrange" various discussions and debates on issues related to China, like trade disputes, arms embargo against China, human rights.

The EP consists of 732 deputies from all the 25 EU countries, and the 59 members of Sterckx's delegation are also from all party groups within the EP, and they hold different attitude towards China.

"A large number of EP members do not know China, or have very shallow knowledge of Chinese problems. Of course, the same with the Chinese side," said Sterckx, who believed that dialogue can deepen mutual understanding.

Sterckx listed an explanation debate on China's anti-Secession Law in March last year as a supporting example.

Despite that some EP members opposed to "contacts with China", Sterckx arranged a two-hour debate and invited Chinese diplomats to give presentation on the law.

"I think it is absolutely necessary to get chance to have people from National People's Congress to come to explain why," he said.

"It is good discussion, ... and we exchanged on China's idea on Asia and the world," he added

"The more you do that, the more you get the base of understanding, even we may agree to disagree," he concluded.

Talking about the relations between the EP and China, Sterckx said much progress has been made after he took the chairmanship.

"There is a clear will from both the Communist Party of China and the National People's Congress (NPC) to conduct more contacts with the European Parliament," he said.

According to Sterckx, the Chinese side have invited all party groups of the EU assembly to visit China.

Last Spring, the liberal party group visited China, and earlier this year, the socialist group visited China. Later this year, the EEP (European People's Party and European Democrats) group, the biggest one within the EP, will pay a visit to China.

As for Sterckx himself, he has visited China twice after he took the chairmanship, and on April 16, he left for China for his third Chinese tour.

For the current trip, Sterckx, who was born in Belgium's northeast rural town of Herent, intended to make study on the gap between rural and urban life in China.

In his preparation for the trip, he even asked Xinhua to send him the full text of the English version of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's government report, delivered to the NPC in March.

"What I like to do is to have more information and get more understanding on the difference between rural and urban life in China," he said.

Source: Xinhua