THE year 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the EU. Over the past 40 years these bilateral ties have made sustained headway and astonishing achievements. No one expected that the bilateral relationship, first established on May 6, 1975 between China and the then European Community, would become one of the most important and influential in the world today. What the two sides have achieved over the past four decades will undoubtedly set the pace for sustained bilateral progress.

Advancing with the Times

The past 40 years have witnessed steady expansion and deepening of the bilateral relationship, along with the two sides’ radical changes and development. Initially their bilateral relationship was mutually accorded marginal status. At that time China had not yet embarked on the reform and opening-up drive and was economically backward. Meanwhile, the focus of the EU during its incipient European Community stage was on economic integration. The bilateral trade volume, therefore, was insignificant, and political and cultural exchanges few. Since European integration deepened and China’s reform and opening-up drive gathered momentum, making remarkable achievements, both the EU and China have gained a greater say in international affairs.

China and the European Community signed in 1978 a trade agreement granting one another most-favored-nation status, a move that signified tangible progress in the bilateral relationship. Since then, China-EU relations have steadily expanded and upgraded. In 1983, the two sides embarked on their first sci-tech cooperation project. A year later, they began their first political consultations at ministerial level; 1984 also saw the European Community initiate its first cooperation program in China. In 1985, the two sides formed an economic and trade cooperation pact, based on the trade agreement of 1978, which expanded bilateral cooperation to include industry, agriculture, science and technology, energy, transportation, environmental protection, and development aid. It constituted the development basis for China-EU relations.

Since the 1990s, with the establishment of the European Union and rapid growth of China’s national strength, bilateral ties have gathered pace. More than 60 high-level dialogue mechanisms have been established, notably the China–EU Summit since 1998, all of which have made significant contributions to the development of China-EU relations.

Amid the growing importance of China-EU relations the two sides respectively introduced scores of policies in succession in a bid to reposition the bilateral relationship and so propel its development. Since 1995, the European Union has issued six documents regarding its China policies. On one hand this reflects the high value the EU places on its relationship with China; on the other, it implies the practical need for bilateral relations to advance with the times. These China policies have established the EU’s strategy of advancing EU-China relations in the long term and of comprehensively developing political and economic relations with China. The EU explicitly proposed in its 1998 document the establishment of a comprehensive partnership with China, accordingly upgrading the bilateral relationship to among its most important ones. In its 2003 document, the EU again elevated bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. China responded by issuing its first policy document on the EU wherein it committed to developing the comprehensive strategic partnership.

The China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership represents both an accurate positioning of the bilateral relationship and the orientation for its future development. It is also a true reflection of the status quo of China-EU relations. The EU has become China’s foremost trade partner, while China is the EU’s second largest trade partner and main source of imports. Trade and economic cooperation thus constitutes the principal pillar of bilateral ties. However, the bilateral relationship is not confined to the economic field. Since the mid-to-late 1990s China-EU relations have expanded to include many fields, including diplomacy, security, global governance, and climate change. Its course of evolution implies that the China-EU relationship will continue to advance with the times.

Win-win Cooperation, the Mainstream of China-EU Relations

The development and upgrading of China-EU relations is mainly attributable to the two sides having stuck to the concept of win-win cooperation, thus achieving mutual benefits. The China-EU relationship might be said to serve as a model in international relations for win-win cooperation.

This principle is embodied primarily in the economic field. Over the past 40 years bilateral economic cooperation has made great strides. Statistics show that in 2014 China-EU trade volume stood at US $615.1 billion, accounting for 14.3 percent of China’s total foreign trade over that period. China’s investment in Europe has also shown a rapid increase, having achieved a total value of US $9.848 billion in 2014 – a record high. Europe is hence now one of the most attractive destinations for Chinese investment. Current negotiations on bilateral investment agreement are bound to expand the two sides’ respective investment even further.

The development of China-EU economic and trade relations is more than just numerically significant, having substantially promoted China and Europe’s comprehensive economic, social, and technological progress. As Europe is an important source of China’s technological imports, their cooperation in this respect has contributed to the improvement of the country’s technology and so fueled its economic development. This, in turn, has enabled China to form a stable and reliable market for countries of Europe, so promoting their economic stability and employment security.

China-EU cooperation in politics and major international issues plays a pivotal role in resolving major international issues and advancing global governance. The two sides are willing and proactive in their efforts to cooperate on major international issues, in particular peace and security, climate change, energy, and global governance. On the whole, the two sides share broad common ground and have reached consensus on scores of major global issues. For example, both advocate the use of a multilateral mechanism to solve international issues, and dialogue rather than confrontation to resolve divergences. In practice, China and the EU have achieved substantial results in their cooperation as regards peacekeeping operations, piracy crackdowns, counter terrorism, promoting the reform of global governance mechanisms, and dealing with climate change. Their cooperation has reaped win-win fruits and also greatly contributed to the international community.

Moreover, at times when one component of the China-EU partnership has been mired in a predicament or beset with problems, the other has unhesitatingly extended support towards ameliorating its plight. For example, the EU championed China in its bid to enter the WTO. China, meanwhile, backed Europe’s integration, and also helped European countries deal with the debt crisis through multilateral and bilateral cooperation. Helping each other out during difficult times, therefore, is an important embodiment of China-EU win-win cooperation.

The past 40 years have also witnessed twists and turns in bilateral relations. There have been divergences between China and the EU on many issues, such as China’s human rights, the country’s principles and standpoints on international intervention, trade deficits, the RMB exchange rate, arms embargoes, trade disputes, and problems related to state-owned enterprises and intellectual property. As bilateral relations advance, new problems have also cropped up from time to time. They include China and the EU’s different stances on non-economic aspects of trade, such as labor standards and environmental protection. Such differences have had negative impact on bilateral relations.

Even so, on the whole, problems between China and the EU have not fundamentally prejudiced bilateral win-win cooperation, due to various mechanisms that strengthen bilateral communication and understanding. Facts prove that win-win cooperation has been the mainstream of the China-EU relationship.

Innovation, a New Chapter

in China-EU Relations

The significant progress of China-EU relations notwithstanding, there is still huge potential and space for the development of bilateral ties. In 2013, when the two sides celebrated the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership, China and the EU began giving priority to further expanding and deepening bilateral relations in the new period.

In November 2013, the two sides released the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, laying a new foundation for future development of bilateral relations. Since then, both sides have made moves to implement the strategic agenda. Over the past year and a half, state leaders of such European countries as Britain, Germany, and France, as well as EU leaders, have successively visited China. In 2014 alone, Chinese leaders paid four visits to Europe. Such frequent top-level reciprocal visits testify to the high premium both Chinese and European leaders put on the bilateral relationship and its future development.

China has raised many new ideas, concepts and viewpoints on how to further China-EU relations. During his visit to Europe from late March to early April 2014 Chinese President Xi Jinping unequivocally proposed deepening the country’s partnership with the EU in efforts to achieve peace, growth, and reform. The proposal represents a new strategic positioning of China-EU relations, so revitalizing and enriching the connotations of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and expanding the China-EU relations development space. It has consequently been hailed by the European community.

It is noteworthy that a series of plans and proposals aimed at expanding and deepening bilateral relations have gradually come into practice. A salient example is that of China and the EU joining hands to build a new win-win cooperation model to promote China-EU relations through innovation. When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Europe in October 2014, China and Germany signed an action plan on closer cooperation on innovation. China and Germany, however, do not have a monopoly on cooperative innovation, as theirs will be an important model for future cooperation between China and EU member countries. In the new-type cooperation, innovation will be at the core of advancing bilateral cooperation in such fields as new industry, new energy, new materials, new technology, new organizational forms, and social administration. Meanwhile, China and EU cooperative innovation will add impetus to innovations in the international community and to world economic and social development.

The scope and influence of China-EU cooperation have moreover gone beyond the boundaries of bilateral relationship. Joint promotion of regional and global economic and social development has become the new direction and goal of China-EU cooperation. In March 2015, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Luxembourg, in proactively responding to China’s proposal, expressed willingness to become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This implies that the two sides are gaining more common ground on issues of regional and global development. These measures outline the new plan, lay new foundations, and help gather greater momentum for China-EU relations.

During this year that marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-EU relations, leaders of the two sides have on multiple occasions pledged that China and the EU will continue to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership. It is hence foreseeable that China and the EU will expand their pragmatic cooperation according to the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation and its theme of innovation cooperation for some time to come. The China-EU relationship, therefore, is about to embark on a brand new chapter.