Chinese Association for International Understanding

Current Location : Home -> Comments


Ever-developing Relations Between China and EU


Cui Hongjian This year marks the 40th anniversary since China and European Communities——the precursor to European Union——established diplomatic relationship and this relationship is becoming a mature one. From acquaintance and interaction to the present close cooperation, China-EU relationship has gone through extraordinary and bumpy years and also harvested valuable experience. Reviewing such experience is beneficial for China and EU to understand each other better, deal with differences more rationally, and promote cooperation more actively——all these elements are important preconditions for China-EU relationship to continue to overcome various obstacles and achieve better and faster development. The Close Cooperation between China and EU was not an Easy Achievement It was not an easy achievement for China-EU relationship to develop from nothing and grow closer and closer. It was a phase of significant changes in international situation during the 1970s——with the easing of Sino-US relationship, the relationship between China and other western countries gradually got on the track. Going through ten years’ development (although European Coal and Steel Community, European Economic Community and European Atomic Energy Community merged into European Community in 1965, each of them was still an independent legal person at that time), the then European Community was in urgent need of opening the “door of opportunities” in the East by developing diplomatic relations with China. With the European side taking the initiative to close and cozy up to China, the Chinese Government also recognized the significance of European countries and the European Community——the regional integration organization of Europe——in maintaining international strategic balance and broadening the scope of foreign exchanges of China. Formal diplomatic relationship was established between China and EU (On May 6, 1975, China and European Economic Community established diplomatic ties; in October 1983, China announced diplomatic relationship with European Coal and Steel Community and European Atomic Energy Community respectively; and on November 1, 1983, China and European Community officially announced the establishment of comprehensive diplomatic relations), which became a major event with far-reaching impact on world pattern. As European integration proceeded along the development path from economic integration to political and security integration, the approximate skeleton of China-EU relations development was also to gradually expand the fields of cooperation from economy to politics and security when the time comes, with the comprehensiveness and strategic significance of which gradually strengthening. In the year 1998 and 2001, China and EU established “a long-term and stable constructive partnership aimed at the next century” and “comprehensive partnership” respectively. In 2003, China and EU announced their “comprehensive strategic partnership” and the Chinese Government issued its first EU policy document. All these marked that both sides viewed each other as important cooperative partner and China-EU relationship has become one of the most important bilateral relations in today’s world. However, there are also differences, spats and frictions between partners. China-EU relations went through some changes after 2006——mainly because the European side began to set some “conditions” in its cooperation with China demanding China to adapt to the rules and agendas drew up by the European side. Various elements, such as the unpleasantness occurred during the Olympic torch relay in Europe in 2008, the trouble made by some European politicians on the issue of Tibet, and the divergence on issues like climate change and the resolving of trade disputes, led to the difficult phase experienced by China-EU relations several years ago. Due to their different historic traditions, political systems and views on some issues, some events and topics such as the Dalai Lama issue and arguments on human rights will sometimes become the “trouble maker” for China-EU relations. In addition, facing the rapid-growing economic strength and competitiveness of China, the European side felt more and more stressed and in some occasions used some protectionist tools to raise obstacles in China-EU trade and economic relations. The degree of closeness of China-EU relations is mainly determined by whether both sides have the sincerity and wisdom to deal with these issues. In the process of confronting and resolving these issues, more than 70 mechanisms of consultation and dialogue came into being, covering various fields and sectors, such as politics, trade and economy, culture, science and technology, energy and environmental protection. The mechanism of annual meeting of leaders of China and European Union established in 1998——the highest level political dialogue mechanism between China and EU——has played a significant leading role in resolving divergence, forging consensus and promoting cooperation. Institutionalized cooperating mechanism and mature cooperative mentality contributed to the maintaining of the overall situation of “seeking common grounds and properly coping with differences” during the China-EU cooperation. Shared Interest is the Cornerstone for China-EU Cooperation Trade and economic cooperation has been and will continue to be the important basis for the relations between China and Europe. Geological barrier between China and EU didn’t hinder their mutual exchange in terms of trade, economy and technology, and EU and China became important “business partner” for each other. After 40 years’ development, the annual trade volume between China and EU has surged from US$ 2.4 billion in 1975 when they established diplomatic relations to US$ 615.1 billion in 2014. Now, the trade volume between the two sides has reached nearly $ 1.7 billion per day-almost the same as the trade volume of a whole year 40 years ago. The European Union has been the largest trading partner of China in the past ten years as well as the largest technology provider for China. Meanwhile, the huge market demand and the development of manufacturing industry of China also brought great benefits to EU-China has become the second largest trading partner of EU and Chinese products are indispensible for the daily life of people in EU. China and EU are also important partners in terms of politics and security for each other on the international stage. Both China and EU support the multi-polar global order and oppose the domination of one country in international affairs by advocating talks and negotiations in international affairs. It was based on such consensus that both sides opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and China-EU relationship was improved to the level of “comprehensive strategic partnership”, making both sides important forces in resisting the uni-polar world order. Now, with the international situation being complicated, it’s all the more important for both China and EU to adhere to the development trend of a multi-polar world order, adhere to the principle of win-win cooperation, and adhere to the valuable consensus such as resolving conflicts and hot-spot issues via political and diplomatic channels. Only in this way can both sides create more opportunities of development and cooperation for the international community. Both China and Europe are outstanding representatives of the long and splendid human civilization and both sides jointly gave birth to the great Asian-European civilization. Therefore, the cultural exchange between China and EU features profundity, rich content and promising future. Cross-border visitors between China and EU have reached nearly 10 million person-times and the number of overseas students from both sides have surged to nearly 250,000. Frequent personnel exchanges not only helped people from both sides better understand the culture of the other side, but also served as a bridge of communication between the two sides. The past 40 years witnessed the growth of both China and Europe. The number of member states of the European Union has increased from 9 to 28 and the Euro, the common currency of 19 European countries, has become an important international currency. China has become the world second largest economy and an irreplaceable important force in international affairs. China-EU relations also witnessed rapid development in recent years. In 2013, both sides jointly issued the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. During the first visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to EU headquarters, both sides promised to take concrete actions to forge the China-EU partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization, which brought the China-EU cooperation onto a new important stage of development. As the important partner for consulting, building and sharing the “One Belt and One Road” project, EU was in an immensely important position in the vision and action program of the “Belt and Road” project, which shows that the relations between China and EU are now on a new and higher starting point of development. The past 40 years not only witnessed the development of both China and EU, but also contributed to the build-up of a solid China-EU partnership. Taking the different phases of being in love and marriage to describe the development of China-EU relationship-it has experienced the “honeymoon period” and “friction period” during the past 40 years, and is now stepping into a “stable phase” featuring comprehensive cooperation, in-depth exchange and mature relations. While summing up the valuable experience, we have good reasons to expect both sides join hands in creating a future of interest community and community of common destiny. 　 (Cui Hongjian, Director of Department for European Studies, China Institute of International Studies, Member of Board of Directors, China Economic and Social Council)