1.3 The Three Pillars of China-EU Relations
The three pillars of China-EU relations refer to the political, economic and
people-to-people dialogues, exchanges and cooperation between China and the EU.
On the political side, dialogues are the focus for dealing with China-EU relations.
There are multiple China-EU dialogues, including leaders’summits, high-level
strategic dialogues, ministerial conferences, irregular symposia, expert-level dia-
logues, etc. In addition, EU institutions participate in China-EU relations based on
their respective authorities in foreign affairs, power structure and benefit distribu-
tion, and explore multiple dialogue channels between China and the EU, due to
which the issues on China-EU relations are continuously expanded to cover security
and defense, crisis management, African affairs, development issues, human rights
protection, alliance against terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation, exporting of con-
ventional weapons, network security, etc. presently involved in both bilateral
relations and global governance. We can catch a glimpse of the high density and
frequency of the China-EU political exchanges through the precise structure and
extensive issues regarding the political pillar of China-EU relations.
The economic and trade pillar has been the most dynamic, forceful, solid and
steady pillar of China-EU relations. In the past ten years, China-EU trade has
quadrupled and, even though it suffered short-termfluctuation affected by the global
financial crisis and the European debt crisis, it soon returned to its previous levels.
Stimulated by the benefits from the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic
Partnership, the volume of China-EU trade increased rapidly during the China-EU
“honeymoon”in 2003 and 2004, when China’s exports to Europe increased by
nearly 50 % annually, viewed as the principal cause of the development of the
China-EU strategic partnership. After 2005, economic and trade relations between
China and the EU encountered ups and downs. After 2008, the percentage of
China-EU trade in China’s foreign trade declined. In 2012, although the EU
remained China’s No. 1 trade partner and No. 1 origin of imports, its position as
China’s largest export market was replaced by the US.^24 The reasons for this
include the impact from the weary global economy, the adjustment of both China’s
and the EU’s internal economic structure, and also the long-pending problems that
China and the EU failed to settle or reach agreement on in their economic and trade
relations, including the disagreements on the position of the market economy in
China, trade deficit, intellectual property, market access, dumping and subsidy, etc.
In order to give further play to the role of the economic pillar as the mainstay of
China-EU relations, it is absolutely necessary to remove some obstacles.
The great difference between China and the EU in practice and perceptions
shows that it is essential to foster exchanges and friendship between the peoples of
China and the EU, hence the timely emergence of the people-to-people exchange.
On the part of the EU, which proposed the people-to-people exchange initially,
(^24) Zheng Yuesheng,The European Union as the No. 1 Trade Partner: China’s Surplus against the
US Increased by 80 %.http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2013/0110/c1004-20156785.html.
12 H. Zhou