BEIJING, May 25 -- A news briefing was held this afternoon after the conclusion of the first China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum. Minister Wang Jiarui of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee said at the briefing that the Chinese side is happy to see warm discussions between the Chinese and European participants, which is what the host expects.

Wang first thanked European friends for speaking highly of the Forum, saying that their remarks and conclusions reflect the views of all participants, and proved the Forum a successful one.

In the preparation for the Forum, we aim to promote and consolidate the China-EU strategic partnership through inter-party exchanges because party diplomacy, as an important part of the overall state diplomacy in China, differs from government diplomacy, where some strategic issues can be discussed from a deeper perspective, said Wang. There is indeed consensus between the Chinese and European sides on the development of the strategic partnership, but some issues also exist which require the two sides to increase mutual understanding and further build up common understanding and mutual trust.

We also noticed that in the dialogue of this morning, European friends kept raising questions to Mr. Xie Duo, director-general of the Financial Market Department of the People's Bank of China. They showed strong interests to China's monetary policy and measures to tackle the financial crisis, as well as China's views and proposals on the international monetary system, reform of the global financial regulatory system, and on RMB's international settlement. Xie has received more questions than others and won more applauds.

We therefore felt that this dialogue and interaction has achieved a win-win outcome in increasing mutual understanding between the two sides.

Wang said that the discussions also touched upon issues of energy and environmental protection, and the two sides also exchanged views on some problems in China-Europe bilateral relations. The participants conducted warm discussions and expressed different views, and some Chinese participants like Vice-Minister Xie Zhenhua of the NDRC took questions one after another from European friends, which is just what we, as the host, hope to see.