Zhai stressed that cooperation between the two continents should not just remain at a level of dialogue and mutual understanding. He also wrote that the two sides must find a new starting point for closer cooperation. If they failed to do so, their relationship would not be able to exert a big strategic influence on global matters, he said.

In the meantime, Beijing is preparing to host the Seventh ASEM in October. The Chinese delegation will emphasize the issues that Premier Wen Jiabao raised at the last ASEM in Helsinki in September 2006. At that summit, Wen said he hoped that Asia and Europe could carry out more practical economic cooperation and set up a related mechanism for better coordinating and managing their actions.

ASEM and ASEP

The ASEM is an open and informal process of dialogue and cooperation that consists of meetings that focus on different fields and convene on various levels between Asia and Europe. The most important meetings include those of the Heads of State or Government, ministerial meetings, senior officials' meetings and expert-level meetings. The ASEM Summit takes place every two years alternately in Asia and Europe. In Europe, the country that holds the rotating EU Presidency always holds the summit. In Asia, one of the Asian members organizes the meeting.

Founded in 1996, the ASEP is a forum between the parliaments of Asian and European countries that promotes contacts, communication and exchanges. The ASEP is usually held before the ASEM summit every two years in the country that hosts the ASEM. ASEP members are usually parliaments of the ASEM and the European Parliament.

The ASEP has 43 members with 15 Asian and 28 European members. They include Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, the European Parliament, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Britain and Viet Nam.

(Source: the fifth ASEP)