ATHENS, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that stronger cooperation between China and the EU will benefit both sides and the world, Chinese and European scholars said Wednesday at Greece's Delphi Economic Forum which is conducted online this year.

"When confronting challenges like this, we all benefit from sharing ideas," said Cheng Li, Director and Senior Fellow at John L. Thornton China Center Foreign Policy at Brookings, as moderator of a discussion on Europe-China relations.

Fang Jin, Secretary-General of China Development Research Foundation, pointed to the response to the 2008 financial crisis as a way to move forward.

"Major economies came together and through joint action stopped the great recession from turning into a great depression. We need this kind of cooperation today," Fang said.

The image is not entirely rosy as some issues are yet to be addressed, Philippe Le Corre, Research Fellow at Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, said.

Le Corre noted that the EU introduced last year the concept of rivalry in EU-China relations, defining China for the first time as a systemic rival.

"This pandemic is a game-changer globally. Globalization will no longer be the same. In troubled times we should not be fighting each other, but should be sitting around the table. It is not the time of pointing the finger at people," Le Corre added.

Ding Chun, Director of the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University, expressed optimism about the prospects of Sino-EU economic relations.

"There are no strategic geopolitical conflicts and they are sharing a common stance on promoting multilateralism, free trade and globalization, which are very important in these hard times," he said.

The 5th Delphi Economic Forum themed "The Day After" started on Tuesday and will run through Friday. It brings together hundreds of political and business leaders, as well as academics from across the world, to discuss how the pandemic has affected the world and how to move forward.