Xi's tea diplomacy

April 1, 2014
President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

When Xi delivered a speech at the College of Europe in Belgium in 2014, he used the comparison of tea and beer to talk about China-Europe relations. 
"The Chinese people are fond of tea and the Belgians love beer. To me, the moderate tea drinker and the passionate beer lover represent two ways of understanding life and knowing the world, and I find them equally rewarding. When good friends get together, they may want to drink to their heart's content to show their friendship. They may also choose to sit down quietly and drink tea while chatting about their lives. In China, we value the idea of preserving 'harmony without uniformity', and here in the EU people stress the need to be 'united in diversity'. Let us work together for all flowers of human civilizations to blossom together," said Xi.