The 2nd EU-China Table Tennis Friendship Tournament took place in Auderghem, Brussels on 30th May. Yang Yanyi, Chinese Ambassador to the EU and Antonio Silva Mendes, Director for the Education & Vocational Training of Directorate-General of Education & Culture of European Commission have kicked off the competition, which 60 players from both sides have participated in.[Photo by Gao Shuang/China Daily]

Through ping pong players, Beijing and Washington had helped break their diplomatic iceberg decades ago. Nowadays, Beijing and Brussels, enjoying growing inter-dependency, don't need such vehicle to achieve normalization but deepen their understanding.

On 30th May, more than 60 European and Chinese table tennis players, many of whom are diplomats, have staged friendship competition in Brussels. This is the second time for China Mission to EU and European institutions to follow the famous pattern of table tennis diplomacy.

And the competition is among hundreds of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between China and EU.

By organizing the EU-China Table Tennis Friendship Tournament, both sides are forging to deepen the understanding, cooperation as well as friendship, says Yang Yanyi at the opening memory.

"It opens a window of opportunities for them to showcase their talents and promotes experience sharing and exchanges skills and foster closer rapport among table tennis players", says Yang.

Antonio Silva Mendes, Director for the Education & Vocational Training at the Directorate-General of Education & Culture in the European Commission says he also takes table tennis more than just a sport but it also facilitates people to people relations.

He says that as an important element for integration and dialogue promotion between communities, sport represents an efficient way to reinforce relations between two peoples.

The first EU-China friendship table tennis tournament last year was a huge success and the number of participants this year has been doubled by two folds, which has shown the table tennis has generated great interests among Europeans.

The competition last for one day and the awarding ceremony will be held on 6th June, which is the open day of China Mission to EU