EU-China EconomicCooperation:a legal approac

Abstract

EU-China economic relations are one of the most significant bilateral economic relations in the world. The two sides have gone through more than 40 years together from building diplomatic relations to the present comprehensive strategic partnership. This process cannot be separated from the development of China and the continuous integration of the EU. China has grown from an initially poor and backward developing country to an emerging economy with rising economic and political influence. The EU has experienced several expansions, becoming the most integrated regional organization in the world, from nine member states in the beginning to 28 member states now. The achievements of EU-China cooperation today are not achieved overnight, but a long-term gradual and cumulative process. Therefore, the article reviews the course of China's opening up and the development of the EU, especially focuses on the change of EU and China's foreign trade policies over the time. At the same time, it analyzes almost all the important EU policy documents on China and China's policy documents on the EU. These important documents are some road signs for us to understand why EU-China relations evolved this way, so that we can clearly see the cognitive renewal and adjustment of both sides in the process of interaction. Then, after reviewing the evolution of China-EU economic ties in three stages and analyzing some restrictive factors of current economic and commercial cooperation between EU and China, the article concludes that EU-China economic relations have come to a new stage and it will maintain the coexistence of cooperation and competition for a long time. Therefore, the two parties need to strengthen dialogue and communication, constructively handle the differences.