Xi welcomes visiting German, Swiss presidents

China has always viewed the European Union as a partner and is committed to developing China-EU relations with sincerity and goodwill, President Xi Jinping told German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during talks in Beijing on Friday. History and reality have repeatedly shown that for China and the EU, cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences, Xi said. He added that as long as both China and the EU stay committed to the positioning of their partnership and maintain the tone of equal-footed dialogue, differences and problems can be resolved and will not hinder further development of China-EU relations. Xi also said China's policy towards Germany is consistent, stable and predictable, and Beijing is happy to see Berlin play a greater role in European and international affairs. Also on Friday, the president met with his Swiss counterpart Guy Parmelin in Beijing as the two countries signed a protocol on upgrading their free trade agreement. The deal removes tariffs on almost all Swiss exports to the world's second-largest economy. It grants 99.8 percent of Swiss exports duty-free access to the Chinese market over the next 10 years, up from around half of Swiss shipments previously. Duties will be eliminated on all imports of Swiss watches, of which only one...