35 Years of China-EU Diplomatic Ties Celebrated

China and the EU established diplomatic ties on May 6， 1975. Over the past 35 years， the political relationship has matured and evolved through a “constructive partnership” and a “comprehensive partnership” into today’s “comprehensive strategic partnership”， with the establishment of various mechanisms such as the China-EU Summit and EU-China Business Summit.

Celebrating the 35th anniversary， the CPAFFC， China-EU Association (CEUA) and the Delegation of the European Union to China jointly hosted a reception on May 20， when the main speakers were CPAFFC President Chen Haosu and Dr. Michael Pulch， Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to China.

China and the EU enjoy increasingly close trade and economic relations. At the start， the volume of bilateral trade was only US$2.4 billion， but， by 2009， it had grown to US$364.1 billion. The EU has become China’s largest trade partner， its largest export market， the largest source of technology imports， the second largest import market and the third largest source of foreign capital. China has remained for several consecutive years the EU’s second largest trade partner and the largest source of imports， and， in 2009， it became the EU’s third largest export market.

In the early days of the diplomatic ties， cooperation between China and the EU was limited to a few areas. Through 35 years’ of steady development， fruitful dialogues and cooperation have emerged in more than 50 fields including science and technology， education， energy， environmental protection， customs， industry， agriculture， quality control， finance， transportation， climate change， health， culture and social security， and their contents are growing and areas expanded.

China and the EU have always been devoted to deepening and expanding their cooperation in the past 35 years despite the changes in the international situation， and now their relationship has become one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world.

President Chen spoke highly of the Sino-EU relations in his speech. Practical cooperation in various fields had not only given impetus to economic and social development， but also brought benefits to the peoples of both sides and greatly enhanced the understanding and friendship between them. Such an understanding and friendship would form a solid foundation for future bilateral relations and would stand the test of time no matter what the hardships， helping to increase mutual trust and enabling them to meet global challenges together. President Chen also spoke on the effective and fruitful work done by the CPAFFC and the CEUA in enhancing people’s friendship， building bridges of cooperation and promoting economic， cultural and social exchanges between China and the EU.

Dr. Michael Pulch recalled the important landmarks in the history of Sino-EU relations and the remarkable achievements that had been made. He said， cooperation between China and the EU maintained bright prospects for even further growth. The EU was confident it would be celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with even greater achievements.

The total attendance of some 160 included ambassadors and charge d’affaires of 20 EU member countries， representatives of the European Union Chamber of Commerce and EU enterprises in China， the International Department of the CPC Central Committee， the Ministry of Foreign Affairs， the Ministry of Commerce， the Ministry of Culture， the All-China Youth Federation， the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， China Daily， the Beijing Foreign Studies University， the People’s University of China， and council members of the CEUA. At the reception， students of the Beijing Dance Academy performed Chinese traditional dance， folk dance and ballet.