LONDON -- Chinese Ambassador to Britain on Wednesday said that Europe and China should stand together against protectionism, stressing that recent measures by the United States risk triggering a trade war and hampering global growth.

Ambassador Liu Xiaoming, in an article on the website of the Financial Times, said the world is at a crossroad between co-operation and confrontation at a critical time when the international community should be upholding the global trading system.

He said that throughout the history of international trade, protectionism has been a spectre stalking the world.

"China has been the powerhouse for global growth and a main contributor to an open world economy in recent years," he said.

Liu noted that Britain and Europe have been advocates of trade liberalization and firm supporters of the multilateral system of trade.

"The leaders of the UK, France and Germany have expressed their concerns over U.S. protectionism and stressed that WTO rules should be the basis for solving trade disputes," he said. "This clearly points to shared interests for China and Europe in safeguarding the multilateral trade regime."

Quoting a saying in Europe that "a single tree cannot block the chilly wind", the ambassador stressed that only if the UK, Europe and China stand shoulder to shoulder, will they be able to uphold openness and co-operation, and safeguard the international trade regime from the dangers of protectionism.