BRUSSELS - European scholars hope that Sino-European relations could enter into "a serious and active period of re-engagement" between 2011 and 2015, as China implements its 12th Five-Year Plan.

"The implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan has opened tremendous opportunities to renew the relationship between Beijing and Brussels," Shada Islam, a senior fellow with Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe, told China Daily.

However, she said whether the potential will be maximized depends largely on how leaders on both sides adjust their expectations, which are currently "mismatched".

China has been calling on the European Union to end its arms embargo and give it the market economy status, but these are issues on which some European leaders are dragging their heels.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called on the EU to lift its arms embargo on China, as well as recognize China's full market economy status during his visit to the United Kingdom at the beginning of this year, but there have been no significant developments on these issues since then.

These issues were also raised last October by Premier Wen Jiabao at the China-EU Summit in Brussels.

Meanwhile the EU has pressured China on renminbi appreciation, where Beijing has its own timetable.

The EU has also been trying to push China to solve trade imbalances, while Wen explained at the summit that these were due to structural factors and "should not be politicized".

Bilateral trade is likely to total $470 billion in 2010 after it hit $433.8 billion in the first 11 months, increasing 33.1 percent year-on-year.

China is the second-largest and fastest-growing export market among the EU's top five export destinations. From January to October in 2010, the EU invested $5.5 billion in China, 10.5 percent more than the previous year.

In the next five years, the Chinese government will work hard to build an energy-saving and environmentally friendly society, and efforts will be made to address climate change, conserve resources and protect the environment.

It is estimated that 3 trillion yuan ($456 billion) will be spent in China on environmental protection between 2011 and 2015, accounting for 1.5 percent of the nation's total GDP.

"I hope in the coming years that the EU can seriously regard China as a partner, instead of rival and competitor, and China can listen more from Europe," said Islam, adding that this kind of approach can help turn the opportunities in the national program into reality. Islam made her comments after a senior Foreign Ministry official spoke to the media in Beijing on China's foreign policy objectives for the next five years.

While pledging to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations, the ministry has expressed concerns over mounting uncertainties, especially the public debt crisis in Europe.

She said China's plan to shift its development pattern to a green economy will offer more economic and trade opportunities for European companies and investors.

Meanwhile, in the regional and global arena, China and Europe can forge a solid partnership to ensure security and stability.

"For example, in Africa, neither of us is willing to see instability in the region and we can forge effective partnership to do more there," said Islam.

Sieglinde Gstohl, professor of international relations of the Belgium-based the College of Europe said there are certainly many areas where the EU and China could play constructive roles.

There are many international forums in which both are among the leading players and could jointly face their growing responsibilities, Gstohl added.

"The most pressing examples in the coming years might be the Doha Round of trade negotiations, climate change, and global financial imbalances," said Gstohl.

The Doha Round of global trade talks kicked off in 2001, but it remains deadlocked over differences between developed and developing economies. Failure to complete the decade-old talks in 2011 may cause lasting damage to the world trading system, the EU trade chief warned on Monday.

Fraser Cameron, director with EU-Russia Centre in Brussels, predicted that EU and China have huge possibilities to cooperate during next five years especially in global issues such as trade, currency, terrorism, energy security, and environmental and social policy.

But in order to achieve more effective results, Cameron said: "Both sides need to work on effective multilaterism," said Cameron. "And they should aim to ensure an international rule-based order that is fair and responsive to emerging powers."

Ma Liyao contributed to this story.

China Daily