NEWS Release - EU-China relations, fact sheet -
Bruxelles, 18/04/2017 - 18:00
As two of the three biggest economies and leading traders in the world, the EU and China have a deep and comprehensive partnership. Having established official diplomatic ties in 1975, the EU and China can now build on a broad-based framework of bilateral relations.
Under the umbrella of the annual EU-China Summit, EU-China relations today encompass over sixty substantive and sectoral dialogues. The EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, adopted in 2013, is the highest-level joint document in EU-China relations, setting out cooperation in the areas of peace, prosperity, sustainable development and people-to-people exchanges.
Both the EU and China have changed considerably in the past decades. The rise of China has happened with unprecedented scale and speed and has not only changed the country internally but has also given it more weight on the international stage. This presents major opportunities for EU-China cooperation, in particular in creating jobs and growth in the EU and in supporting China's own economic reform programme. The Joint Communication on elements for a new EU strategy on China, adopted by the High Representative and the European Commission on 22 June 2016, together with the Council Conclusions adopted on 18 July 2016, form the EU Strategy on China which sets out how both sides can take advantage of these openings in order to promote long-term benefits for EU and Chinese citizens.
page source https://eeas.europa.eu/
