Plan between China and Greece, etc. Several Central and Eastern European
countries including three Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland,
Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Rumania joined the EU between 2004 and 2007.
Previously, China had established various cultural exchange relations with these
countries. After these countries joined the EU, their cultural exchanges with China
were further enhanced. In 2007, China signed bilateral cultural cooperation exe-
cution plans with Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus. Many Chinese
art delegations visited Estonia, Latvia, Rumania, Armenia, Macedonia, Bulgaria,
Poland, Belarus, while artists from Hungary, Armenia, Rumania visited and per-
formed in China.
4.3 2010–2013: Cultural Exchanges Became“The Third
Pillar”in China-EU Relations
After theTreaty of Lisboncame into force, the EU officially obtained competence
for promoting the development of China-EU cultural exchanges and immediately
carried out many significant cultural exchanges activities with China. On October
6 – 7, 2010, as part of the 13th China-EU Summit, thefirst China-EU Cultural
Summit was held in Brussels. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and the President of the
European Commission JoséManuel Durao Barroso attended the opening ceremony
and jointly announced the 2011 China-EU Year of Youth program and the 2012
China-EU Year of Cultural Dialogues. The China-EU Cultural Summit was
co-organized by the European Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Culture,
based on the consensus to establish this Summit during the China-EU Summit on
November, 2009. Chinese and EU leaders agreed that the Cultural Summit would
be developed into an annual event where China and the EU would take turns in
organizing it. The second Cultural Summit was held in Beijing in October, 2011
with a focus on city development, in which Chinese and European scholars had
extensive discussions and exchanges.
As one of the key initiatives to support the China-EU Strategic Partnership,
in May, 2011, both sides decided to launch the China-EU High Level
People-to-People Dialogue (HPPD) as“the third pillar”for China-EU relations,
following the China-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue and the
China-EU High Level Strategic Dialogue. This mechanism was officially incepted
during the 14th China-EU Leaders’Meeting in February, 2012. Thefirst meeting
under this mechanism was held in Brussels on April 18, 2012 hosted by then State
Councilor Liu Yandong and EU Council Member Androulla Vassiliou. During the
meeting, with the support from Mission of China to the European Union and the EU
Directorate General for Education and Culture, several non-governmental institu-
tions including Friends of Europe and the European University Association orga-
nized the China-EU High-level People-to-People Exchange Forum including three
sub-forums on education, culture and youth respectively. Delegations from more
4 “Cultural Exchanges”as a Pillar to the China-EU Relations 99