China and the European Union should work together as they adapt to the changing and increasingly globalized world, President of the European Council (EC) Herman Van Rompuy said Tuesday.

"In this globalized world, the EU and China are both key players. In my view we should be partners in adapting to the changing world," Van Rompuy said while addressing the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.

Van Rompuy started his five-day visit to China on Sunday, which is his first official visit to the country since he became EC president on Jan. 1, 2010.

"Since I took office, I have placed the EU-China relation in the center of an important internal debate focusing on the strategic partners of the European Union," Van Rompuy said.

The EU leaders have shown "a strong desire to develop a reliable, constructive and forward-looking strategic partnership with China, fully aware of our convergences and divergences," Van Rompuy said. "My visit is an expression of that wish."

The 27-member bloc is now China's largest trading partner while China is the EU's second-largest trading partner.

Bilateral trade between the EU and China reached 480 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. It hit 123.7 billion dollars in this year's first three months, up 22 percent from last year, Chinese Ambassador to the EU Song Zhe said in a recent interview with the People's Daily.

With such a "substantial" trade relationship, the existence of differences between the two sides is normal, Van Rompuy said. "We should discuss these openly and together find compromises that are mutually beneficial."

In his speech, Van Rompuy said he agreed with Chinese President Hu Jintao's remarks that the China-EU economic cooperation has huge potential and broad prospects.

China and the EU have developed cooperation in all fields such as energy, education, environment, tourism, research and transport, Van Rompuy said.

"We (EU and China) are becoming part of the solution of the other side's challenges," Van Rompuy said.

China has supported some Eurozone countries facing difficulties just as the EU supports China's stable development by providing investment and technology, he said.

"The story of our relationship should not be seen as a competition," Van Rompuy said, adding that the EU-China relationship is an opportunity, not a threat.

On the sovereign debt crisis that started in Greece early 2010 and has affected Ireland and Portugal, Van Rompuy said the EU should draw lessons from the crisis, stressing that coordination, surveillance and cooperation are key in its economic policy.

Van Rompuy also expressed his gratitude to China for its contribution to supporting the EU during the crisis.

"China is investing in the Eurozone, and it is in evidence of their confidence in the future of the Eurozone and of the euro as an important reserve currency in the world. We're grateful for that confidence," Van Rompuy said.

Van Rompuy said countries are closely connected to each other and how to manage such global interdependence is the great challenge of this century.

"In a fast changing, interdependent world, our strategic partnership should be a force of stability," Van Rompuy said. "We should build our partnership on the principles of shared responsibility, cooperation and openness."

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2011)