safeguarding international peace and security. In more and more papers and doc-
uments, both sides have expressed their willingness to cooperate in the UN.
Thefirst policy paper towards China released by the EU in 1995 specified
dialogue with China on international security affairs but it did not explicitly men-
tion cooperation of both sides in the UN.^4 The EU’s policy paper towards China in
1998 stressed China-EU cooperation in the UN, which mainly covered develop-
ment issues and UN reform.^5 The EU clearly vowed in its policy paper towards
China in 2001 to conduct security dialogues with China under a multilateral
framework and support the incorporation of a UN peacekeeping operation into
issues involved in political dialogues.^6 The EU’s policy paper towards China in
2003 emphasized the importance of dialogue and cooperation with China on
regional and international security issues (including bilateral cooperation, joint
promotion of a multilateral system and rules for global governance).It also
emphasized further reinforcement of the UN system and its role in addressing
global conflicts and other issues, joint response to global security, nuclear
non-proliferation and arms control, etc. as well as anti-terrorism cooperation within
the framework of the UN.^7
China also believed, in its policy paper towards the EU in 2003, that the EU was
an important power in the world and China attached importance to the role and
influences of the EU in regional and international affairs, and explicitly stated that
both China and the EU should strengthen their cooperation in the UN including
cooperation in safeguarding world peace.
Safeguarding world peace and security was also an important theme in the
China-EU Summit. Both China and the EU reiterated several times their willingness
to strengthen both sides’cooperation in the UN in summit communiqués.
In general, there is a foundation and a willingness for China-EU cooperation in
the UN Security Council, which are also the important preconditions for China-EU
cooperation in the UN Security Council. Under these preconditions, China and the
EU have engaged in various kinds of cooperation to various degrees in the UN
Security Council in many areas including peacekeeping, prevention of nuclear
proliferation, safeguarding regional peace and security, anti-terrorism, etc.
(^4) Communication from the Commission:“A long-term Policy for China Europe Relations”, COM
(1995) 279final.
(^5) Communication from the Commission of 25 March 1998—“Building a Comprehensive
Partnership with China”, COM (1998) 181final.
(^6) Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament of 15 May
2001,“EU Strategy towards China: Implementation of the 1998 Communication and Future Steps
for a More Effective EU Policy,”COM (2001) 265final.
(^7) Commission guidance document of September 10 entitled“A Maturing Partnership—Shared
Interests and Challenges in EU China Relations”(updating of Commission communications of
1998 and 2001 on EU-China relations), COM (2003) 533final.
108 C. Weidong