On the afternoon of January 12, 2024, President Xi Jinping met with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who is on an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People.

Xi Jinping pointed out that China attaches great importance to the development of China-Belgium relations. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium 53 years ago, bilateral cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results and benefited the two peoples. China and Belgium are both beneficiaries of economic globalization and share common interests in rejecting protectionism and safeguarding free trade. China appreciates Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's open opposition to the decoupling or severing of industrial and supply chains on many occasions, welcomes Belgian enterprises to invest and do business in China, and stands ready to provide them with a sound business environment. Xi Jinping expressed the hope that Belgium will also provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises. The two sides can harness their respective strengths to expand cooperation in traditional areas such as transportation, logistics and bio-pharmaceuticals, and explore new growth areas for cooperation such as green development and digital economy. The two sides need to encourage government departments, legislatures, and sub-national areas to strengthen exchanges and dialogue, expand two-way tourism and exchange of overseas students, organize large cultural activities in each other's country, carry out research on giant panda protection, and continuously enhance mutual understanding and people-to-people friendship, so as to inject new impetus and open up new prospects for China-Belgium relations. China is ready to strengthen communication with Belgium within multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, and carry out cooperation on issues such as climate change response and biodiversity protection.

Xi Jinping stressed that China maintains long-term consistency in its policy toward Europe, and has always regarded Europe as a cooperative partner. Xi Jinping expressed the hope that Europe will play a positive and constructive role as an important force in a multipolar world. In the face of the changing and volatile international situation, China and Europe need to build more "bridges". The two sides should cooperate more closely to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, and jointly promote world peace, stability and prosperity. China is ready to work with the European Union (EU) to push for steady progress in China-EU relations in the new year and hopes that Belgium, as the rotating presidency of the EU, will play a positive role in this regard.

Alexander De Croo said, Belgium-China relations enjoy a time-honored history and are at the forefront of EU-China relations in many aspects. Belgium will continue to abide by the one-China policy. Belgium is ready to have a candid dialogue with China to deepen understanding and push for continuous development of bilateral relations in political, economic and other fields. The Belgian side opposes decoupling or severing of industrial and supply chains, welcomes Chinese enterprises to carry out cooperation in Belgium, and hopes to strengthen personnel and cultural exchanges with China. Ten years ago, President Xi Jinping delivered a wonderful speech in Bruges during his visit to Belgium, in which the vivid description of the "bridge" was impressive. Amid the current changing and turbulent international situation, the world needs China and Europe to work as partners and strengthen cooperation in a wide range of areas such as promoting world economic growth, addressing climate change and building a more stable world. Belgium, as the rotating presidency of the EU, is ready to play an active role in the development of EU-China relations. Alexander De Croo expressed the hope that this visit will help elevate Belgium-China and EU-China relations to new heights.

Wang Yi was present at the meeting.