China has a cultural wealth that must be shared with the rest of the world and can even be integrated into the dialogues, according to Defraigne. "This is because we all have to think in terms of a more open, balanced global culture. The time of the cultural dominance of the West is over. Now it's about sharing those experiences and values," he said.

"We have to learn from the Chinese, as China might once have learned from the West," he said. For Defraigne, one key benefit of the Chinese approach is the ability to think about the long term, a factor that has given China a competitive edge in governance.

The country also has a tradition of transmitting its culture down through the ages and so successive generations share strong, continuous cultural links. "In this fast-changing world, the future of Chinese civilization is also important to Europe," he said.

He urged both sides to attach great importance to the rebalancing of economics and politics, something that's crucial for global stability and prosperity. "Capitalism has its advantages in terms of competition and therefore growth and jobs. But it's a dangerous system too, because it's unfair and unstable," said Defraigne.

He urged China not to commit the sort of mistakes seen in the West and argued that debate on the balance of politics and the market is absolutely essential to ensure that the different systems remain compatible. "China has a different development model from ours and America's. The compatibility of the different models is very important," said Defraigne.

Defraigne said China's efforts to grow have been fascinating, but were mainly about catching up, an extremely difficult challenge. "Now China needs to reinvent itself. This is very exciting, but much more difficult," he said.

The importance of ethics to the CPC was something he was keen to emphasize. The CPC must be perceived as seeking the common good for China's citizens and it is absolutely central that the CPC develops extremely stringent ethical standards for its members, from top to bottom.

"The image of a strong and healthy CPC would ease the formidable work it has to undertake," he said, adding that the country must become more effective in terms of innovation and environmental protection.

"It is a matter of survival for China. China can't destroy its environment. Innovation is about growth, and the environment is about maintaining the stock of resources," said Defraigne.

When the questions turned to topics such as equitable distribution of wealth, education, urbanization and bureaucracy, he was optimistic: "All these topics are crucial in party dialogues and we can learn from each other," he said.

Contact the author at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

Liu Jia contributed to this story.