Mr Schulz hailed Mr Xi Jinping's visit to the Parliament and the European institutions, the first ever by a Chinese president, as "a welcome signal of the importance that the new Chinese leader attaches to a strengthened EU-China partnership".
"We are highly connected and interdependent," Mr Schulz said, adding: "For our relations to flourish, political dialogue – not only our commercial ties – must be reinforced."
The Chinese president, who was elected last year, started his European tour last week in order to meet his main commercial partners in Germany and France and foster closer links with his country's European partners ten years after the EU-China strategic partnership.
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