In 25 years, EU-China relations have come far, further than many could have imagined - but how much further can these relations be taken? Today, their bilateral relations are at a crossroads. In effect, it has been 25 years since the EU and China agreed upon the legally binding Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, which sets the basis for their diplomatic relations. In an ever increasingly complex and globalised international environment, these actors have become mutually interdependent on a variety of levels. In 2007, they agreed to revise and update the 1985 accord and replace it with an all-encompassing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. However, more than three years passed, and there are many points of contention which need to be negotiated. What obstacles are blocking this agreement? How can these obstacles be overcome? What concessions should be made and where? This book will provide an up-to-date analysis of the problematic concerns, and the means to resolve these issues, that range from human rights, to international trade conflicts and climate change.

This book provides a comprehensive review of relations between China and the EU from the perspectives of politics, economy and culture in order to provide a better understanding of the development of the China-EU Strategic Partnership over the past ten years and to explore its future direction. It goes on to discuss China-EU relations against the backdrop of global governance, as well as China’s relations with some of the EU member states. The final part of the report presents a comparative analysis of China-EU relations and EU-US relations. This book will help readers to better understand the status quo and to predict China-EU relations in the near future.

China and Europe both decisively shape twenty-first century global politics. Successful cooperation between Europe and China continues, notably in climate change mitigation, or finding a way out of the financial crisis. Relations are also increasingly institutionalised, such as through Summits or High-Level Dialogues. However, although in 2013 the EU and China have celebrated the 10-year-anniversary of their Strategic Partnership, struggles have re-emerged, in relation to human rights, intervention in crisis regions such as Syria, and trade subsidisation and protectionism in areas such as the solar energy industry. Given this simultaneous presence of partnership and competition, this edited volume investigates if Sino-European relations have become what Henry Kissinger has termed a “co-evolution”: both China and Europe “pursue their domestic imperatives, cooperating where possible, and adjust their relations to minimize conflict”. The volume sheds light on four key areas of Europe-China relations: first, high politics and security relations; second, the European sovereign debt crisis; third, energy and environmental issues; and fourth, soft power and public diplomacy. As the volume is authored by Chinese and European early-stage scholars in equal numbers, it adds a balance of perspectives and a future-oriented outlook to the still-low but increasing number of works on Europe/EU-China relations.

This book addresses the convergences and the differences (ideational, political, institutional, and interests-related) between China and the EU by a collective interaction between Chinese and European scholars.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the relations between China and the EU, tracing the development of this complex, yet intriguing, relationship between two substantially different actors. To uncover a deeper understanding of this unlikely partnership, the authors analyze the partnership through the prism of contending norms and worldviews. The China-EU strategic partnership has evolved through fits and starts but despite continuous trade disputes and severe diplomatic misunderstandings, the EU and China pledge to uphold, even deepen, the partnership. Policy experts and scholars will learn how such contending bilateral relationships can be managed and establish a better understanding of deep-seated conceptual differences between these two entities.