EU Economic Relations with China: An Institutionalist Perspective

Abstract

Looking at the history of European-Chinese relations, there have been times of rapprochement and co-operation but also of tension and conflict. Both China and the European Union (EU) have gained specific profile as international actors over the last two decades, be it in economic or political terms. Amongst Asian states, China has reached a dominant position on the EU's external relations agenda. Economic relations between the two sides have reached significant importance and in 2000 China was, for exports as well as imports, the EU's third largest non-European trading partner, behind the United States and Japan. This has not happened by accident, but is part of a process in which EU-China relations were progressively deepened. As early as in 1973 the Chinese government had invited the then European Commissioner Christopher Soames to visit China. In November 1974 the European Commission forwarded a memorandum to China, including a draft for a possible trade agreement. After diplomatic relations had been established between the EC and China in 1975, recognizing the People's Republic as the only government of China, the Trade Agreement between the EC and China followed in 1978. In 1985 this agreement was replaced by the Agreement on Trade and Economic Co-operation between the EC and China. The European Commission opened its representation in Beijing in 1988, and ever since there has been a continuous deepening of economic and trade relations.