Councilor in charge of foreign affairs. In the years 2010–2012, this dialogue has
been held for three rounds in Guiyang, Budapest and Beijing respectively.
Undeniably, the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue adds an important
channel for both sides to exchange views on strategic issues and foreign policy, to
enhance political understanding and mutual trust as well as to deepen mutually
beneficial cooperation between the two sides. It is also an important link between
the top leaders and government departments carrying out the practical work.
Moreover, at the beginning of its launch, the China-EU High-Level Strategic
Dialogue played a really important role in dispelling the haze surrounding
China-EU relations in 2008. However, in order to make it function as a bridge
between the two sides, there is still much work to be done by both sides, and in
particular, the following two issues should be addressed. Firstly, as there are on one
hand the Summit meetings at a higher level and ministerial dialogues at a lower
level on the other hand, and a parallel“China-EU High-level Economic and Trade
Dialogue”is available to it, how can the China-EU High Level Strategic Dialogue
be more accurately positioned? Secondly, compared with the China-US Strategic
and Economic Dialogue, the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue (especially
the third round) seemed too“quiet”.^24 Under such a circumstance, the question as to
how to entrust the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue a more effective role
deserves further exploration.
2.3 Roles and Policy Stances of the Main Institutions
of the EU in China-EU Relations
In comparison with the bilateral relations between China and national players,
China-EU relations are highly complicated, for which one of the reasons is that the
EU is not a single“dialogist”. Instead it involves the double-leveled actors
including both the member states and EU institutions, while the EU institutional
system itself is extremely complicated since it incorporates not only intergovern-
mental institutions led by member states but also supranational institutions which
represent the EU’s interests. Therefore, although China-EU relations have been
institutionalized to a large extent andfixed communication channels established,
China-EU relations are“still subject to the regulations and the structural form of the
the EU’s external relations to a great degree”.^25 More intensive institutional reforms
introduced by theTreaty of Lisbonhave exerted an impact to varying degrees on the
roles of the main EU institutions in China-EU relations.
(^24) Huang ( 2012 ).
(^25) Algieri ( 2010 ).
44 J. Li et al.