New Chinese leaders keen on cementing ties, promoting innovation, experts say

Rebalancing and strengthening China's ties with Europe should continue to be a top priority for the new leadership in China, several leading European experts say.

Though Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang along with his cabinet have reiterated their intent for cooperation and peaceful development in their discussions with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany, experts are still waiting for clear signals to emanate.

One reason for the questions in Europe over the new leadership in China is the country's increasing importance in global and economic affairs. With China holding the key to global recovery, experts in Europe are worried whether the new leadership will press ahead with more reforms or opt for a conservative growth policy.

Though firm announcements have been yet to be made, it is clear that China's priorities will lie more in improving its scientific and technological prowess to increase productivity and offset rising labor costs.

Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, says huge challenges await the new leadership.

"China has achieved extraordinary results since its opening-up policy lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. However, the economic, social and environmental challenges it faces are still enormous, and linked to the magnitude and the speed of the progress made in the last 20 years.

"The Chinese government has now embarked on a difficult, but necessary, process to move from an export-led economy to a more domestic consumption and welfare-oriented model," he says.

According to Van Rompuy the new leadership should focus more on social disparities, wealth distribution, environmental challenges and promotion of the rule of law.

Romano Prodi, former Italian prime minister and former European Commission president, says the top priority for the new leadership is urbanization.

"China is experiencing huge challenges and its immediate priority should be on how to manage the process of urbanization." Official statistics show that China's urbanization rate is around 50 percent, and in the coming decade, more than 300 million, or equivalent to the population of the United States, will migrate to the cities.

"China has been facing huge environmental and resource constraints in this regard," Prodi says.

It will be more important to develop the middle-sized urban areas than the big metropolitan areas, he says. "But this is a project that needs lots of skills and lots of political unity."

The urbanization challenge also needs to take account of the income disparities across various provinces.

"The income differences across cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guizhou and Gansu are very substantial. The urbanization process should be achieved through a process of income equalization across different areas," Prodi says.

Janez Potocnik, European commissioner for the environment, says that though high-speed urbanization is a challenge, it is also an opportunity. In the words of the 2010 Shanghai Expo motto, the process aims to create a "better city, better life", he says.

"One of the important lessons that we have learnt in Europe is that cutting air pollution does not necessarily mean cutting economic growth," Potocnik says, adding that it is possible to decouple economic growth and pollution.

He believes that this is an important starting point for any country when considering policies to tackle air quality in cities. "The measures being taken by the Chinese authorities to reduce vehicle emissions are very similar to the policies in Europe, and we have cooperated in this area for many years, sharing expertise and best practices," Potocnik says.

Jean-Marie Le Guen, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly, says China's new leadership is experienced enough to tackle the challenges.

Xi has got off to a good start by forging close bonds with the Chinese people, thereby generating trust and hope, Le Guen says. "We (France) believe that boosting internal consumption is a necessary step for fulfilling Chinese people's needs in education and healthcare, while maintaining sustained long-term growth."

Countries such as France can also expect increased exchanges in sectors like environment as China is committed to sustainable growth in the future.

"Given its unquestionable central role in international relations, we are looking forward to more fruitful collaboration with China," Le Guen says.