50 years of diplomatic relations between the European Union and China: Where are we now?

The European Union and China in 2025 reached a significant landmark of 50 years of diplomatic relations. Back in 1975, when formal diplomatic relations were established, the European Community was a 12-Member State arrangement, and China was just escaping from the effects of the Cultural Revolution. Both experienced significant changes in these 50 years and both developed from very different starting points. While what is now the EU, and China have travelled along significantly different paths politically and economically, ultimately both have become economic and political pillars in the world. This paper will unravel the relationship from its outset in 1975 and follow the separate journeys which these two state actors have pursued. Despite the ideological east-west contrast between the Western European states and China, the early period of the relationship revealed significant cooperation. Since the 2000s, the EU’s relative decline in global economic terms and China’s trade and economic rise has produced greater tension and rivalry between them. While China’s trade surplus with the EU has raised concerns, it has not produced the US response of protective tariffs. However, the future of this relationship may well go along the same path as that of the US.