BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The world's second largest economy and a leading trade power; an unparalleled economic success and the world's first industrialized region; a country with a history of more than five millennia and a continent home to the world's most acclaimed cultural diversity.

China and Europe are all these and more.

Sharing so much in common, it came with little surprise that the two sides have been drawn closer to each other in the new millennium.

Indeed, in many aspects, China and Europe are alike.

Both are peace-loving powers. Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has contributed the largest number of peace-keeping personnel, whereas the EU, itself a "peace project" established after World War II, is responsible for half of the world's development aid.

Both China and Europe are leading trade powers. China is the world's second-largest economy while the EU countries together account for some 23 percent of the world's entire GDP.

Both China and Europe are in the middle of structural reforms that are vital to buttress their economic and political prowess, and both sides are birthplaces to eminent thinkers, philosophers and artists whose great achievements have become part of the spiritual heritage of mankind.

There are differences as well.

A Chinese policy paper issued in April admitted that "the two sides have disagreements and frictions on issues of value such as human rights as well as economic and trade issues."

China is still a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion. The country is still caught in the process of modernization with a per-capita GDP still below the world average.

Europe, on the other hand, has boasted decades of prosperity, and despite the recent global financial crisis and the eurozone debt crisis, remains one of the most developed regions in the world.