The European Union (EU) and China are getting more pragmatic in their cooperation as the global financial crisis has brought the two partners closer, an EU expert said on Friday.

"The financial crisis has certainly confirmed that cooperation is inevitable," Jonathan Holslag, head of research at the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies, said in an interview with Xinhua on the eve of the China-EU summit scheduled for Monday in Nanjing, capital city of the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

It is the second summit this year, with the first held in Prague, the Czech Republic, in May.

Chinese and EU leaders usually meet once a year, but the summit originally scheduled for last December was postponed till May after French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country held the EU's rotating presidency at that time, insisted on meeting Dalai Lama.

Despite the twists and turns, the China-EU relations were revitalized soon. The two economies worked together in the global fight against the financial and economic crisis.

Holslag said the positive thing of the turbulence last year is that mutual expectations have become more realistic.

"The EU is starting to learn that it can no longer lecture its partners. It can share experiences, but it cannot impose conditions without suffering serious setbacks. But China too has come to understand that a good relationship with Europe is needed if it does not want to be seen as ganging up with the United States," he said.

Holslag noted the upcoming summit would send a signal that the China-EU relations are back on track and both sides recognize the need for pragmatic cooperation.

The European Commission said in a press release on Friday that the summit would focus on efforts to strive for an ambitious deal on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month. It would also address the financial and economic crisis as well as bilateral relationship and international issues.

"From this EU-China Summit we intend to send a strong message on our shared determination to face and overcome together global challenges," said Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Holslag said the EU and China now need to more actively explore options for deepening cooperation.

"It is clear that there are many joint interests," he said. "We are both supporters of effective multilateralism."

"We both face the challenge of promoting internal unity and modernizing our economies. At the international level we have become neighbors, feeling the same need to bring stability to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the strategic sea lanes that carry our trade," he added.

The EU and China are expected to sign six agreements on the margins of the summit, covering clean energy and technology cooperation, according to the European Commission.

The summit takes place only one day before the EU's Lisbon Treaty comes into force. The landmark reform treaty was designed to strengthen the EU integration and streamline the EU institutions and the decision-making process.

Under the treaty, a new EU "president" and a "foreign minister" were appointed by EU leaders last week.

Holslag said the new development would help the EU speak in one voice on the international stage, which could gradually lead to more EU thinking instead of national strategizing.

"For our China policy to be effective, the EU will have to build a clearer internal consensus on what we expect from our partnership and how we can try to achieve it," he said.

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