Against the backdrop of a worldwide wave of protectionism, China still sustains an enormous potential market, spearheading the global economic development, the Economic Daily reported on Nov 3.

It is the mainstream idea held by leaders in European business and political circles.

The economic and trade relations between the Europe Union (EU) and China are more on a complementary rather than competitive terms in the long run. According to the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, there exists immense room for China-EU cooperation in the fields of new energies, environmental protection, and hi-tech agriculture. The trajectory of China’s market development can navigate further overseas investments, said Janzen Vandenberg, a member of the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China.

The European Union and China should maintain a benign cooperation to jointly safeguard a free and convenient global trade, said Jyrki Katainen, a vice-president at the European Commission.

Additionally, the European Central Bank launched the largest-scale investment in the RMB compared to other central banks. Meanwhile, China was a top three investment destination for 60 percent of EU enterprises surveyed by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China this year.

With increasing progress being made in China’s “go global” strategy, China’s outbound investment in Europe reached $40.81 billion (35 billion euros), up 77 percent year-on-year.

China and the EU should proceed with advancing the construction of an open global economy and realizing more untapped potential in their bilateral cooperation in energy security and climate change, said Alicia Garcia Herrero, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic think tank.