Statistics show that the total trade volume between China and the European Union over the first seven months this year hit €328.7 billion ($388.65 billion), up 2.6 percent year-on-year.

That means China has surpassed the United States to become the EU's largest trade partner for the first time.

This is a hard-earned result in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the efforts of both sides.

According to the World Trade Organization, the world trade contracted by 3 percent in the first quarter, and plummeted 18.5 percent in the second quarter, and this week the organization projected that world trade will shrink by 9.2 percent this year due to the pandemic.

The United Nations' World Economic Situation and Prospects mid-2020 report also presents a pessimistic outlook for the year, predicting that the global economy will contract by 3.2 percent this year, and the world trade may decline by 15 percent.

These projections serve to highlight that Sino-EU trade growth is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy picture.

Generally sound Sino-EU relations and the strong complementarity between the two economies have laid a solid foundation for the positive trade momentum. And win-win cooperation has always been a theme in the development of their economic and trade exchanges.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has only strengthened their economic and trade exchanges－the number of freight trains shuttling between China and Europe has increased continuously since the beginning of this year, which has also benefited the countries through which the railway passes.

Accounting for one-third of the global economy, China and the EU's combined trade is undoubtedly conducive to boosting confidence in the recovery of the global economy in the post-pandemic era.

The video conferences between the leaders of China and the EU on Sept 14 have pointed out the direction of their relations and cooperation. And the two sides' common interests and shared faith in multilateralism, economic globalization and a rules-based international order will help see them through the vicissitudes of the times.

- XINHUA NEWS AGENCY