Leinen says the EU needs its ambitions to be matched by the world's major economies, which include China and the US.

The EU and China currently are cooperating on several climate protection projects that include technology transfers, power generation, transportation and heating and cooling.

"I think this intensive cooperation should be more intensive. And I hope the next EUChina Summit will focus on these areas of sustainability, especially on climate protection," Leinen says.

Despite its continuing transition from a developing country to a more developed one, China has a strategy for the future to have a clean country, clean industries and clean cities that will benefit the nation and the world, Leinen says.

"That is most welcome. China is one country with two faces: the old face and the new," he says. "Its responsibility is always for more than their own territory."

He says the EU and China should work on an emissions cap and trade system to impose prices on carbon emissions and create competition between different market players to further reduce emissions. He compliments the nation for its considerable investment plan in renewable energies and advanced battery technologies for electric cars, though he also wants to see the nation modernize its modes of transportation, energy production and urban construction.

"A lot of these quickly built cities of the last 30 years in China are not sustainable. They are more like copies of the cities around the world that are also not sustainable," he says.

Despite his criticism of China, Leinen agrees that public sentiment about the European Parliament is "not good" but that "we always try to improve our image, our profile".

What makes the European Parliament unique is its diversity, he says.

"We have hundreds of legislators, 65 different political parties from 28 member states. So we are quite diverse in our opinion, our interests and sometimes it looks, from the outside, quite complicated and difficult."

Though some countries in Europe are aiming criticism more directly toward human rights issues in China, others might look toward advancing economic cooperation.

"Then it is the question of how you look upon China. If you look at economics, then you have hopes; if you look at its politics, you could see problems," says Leinen. "But under my leadership, I will take care of our relationship and develop it."

Leinen says he will try to improve the relationship between Europe and China to achieve a common mutual understanding about political systems and cultural systems in order to solve problems as they arise.

"The bilateral relationship can be complementary in economic development, as well as in major issues ranging from climate protection, free trade and space exploration policies to cooperation on satellites."