Expert calls for enhancing trust in China, Europe ties

Through participation in common projects, especially ones that tackle common challenges such as climate change, China and Europe can enhance trust for better relations, said Reinhard Bachmann, a leading expert in the field of trust research based in London.

"Trust is something that gives people a strategic advantage, it creates value and can save transaction costs … And what I realized is that in China, it is very important to build a relationship first before you talk about business," said Bachmann, who first traveled to China in 2007 and has been in contact with many Chinese researchers and institutes.

As a long-time scholar focusing on trust as a social mechanism to coordinate interaction between individual and collective actors, Bachmann is the director of the Centre for Trust Research under the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.