BEIJING - Visiting European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Tuesday that the European Union should deepen its partnership with China, especially in trade and people-to-people exchanges.

"We don't see China as a threat, but an opportunity," he said in a speech to around 500 students at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The trade relationship between the EU and China has been one of the major areas of cooperation.