China established diplomatic relations with the EU’s predecessor, the European Community on May 6, 1975. In 2003, China and the EU established a comprehensive strategic partnership, which marked that China-EU relations had entered a new stage. China and the EU have established more than 70 consultation and dialogue mechanisms covering various fields.
The year 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of China-EU relations. At the start of the year, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with European Council President Antonio Costa, which charted the course forward and identified priorities for bilateral relations in the years to come.
The mechanism of China-EU Summit was established in 1998. The 24th China-EU Summit was held on December 7, 2023. President Xi Jinping met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Premier Li Qiang co-chaired the summit with the EU leaders.
As an important platform for in-depth communication between China and the EU on strategic issues, the China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue, was established in 2010. In October 2023, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles held the 12th round of China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Beijing.
China and the EU are each other's second-largest trading partners. The trade relationship between China and the EU demonstrated resilience in 2024 despite some trade frictions, as the bilateral trade volume reached US$785.8 billion, marking a modest 0.4% rise from a year earlier.
Established in 2008, the China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue is the highest-level dialogue mechanism between China and the EU in the field of economics and trade. In September 2023, Vice Premier He Lifeng co-chaired the 10th China-EU High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue with the European Commission's Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis in Beijing.
China-EU cooperation in science and technology began in 1981. In 1991, a Working Group on China-EU Cooperation in Science and Technology was established, which was renamed as the China-EU Joint Steering Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation in 1998. In November 2024, the 16th meeting of the China-EU Joint Steering Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation was successfully held in Brussels.
Institutionalized climate cooperation between China and the EU dates back to 2005, when the two sides agreed on a climate change partnership. In 2006, the China-EU Working Group on Climate Change was launched. In 2018, the two sides issued the Joint Statement on Climate Change during the 20th China-EU Summit.
In September 2020, President Xi Jinping held a video meeting with the leaders of Germany and the EU, when China and the EU decided to establish a high-level dialogue mechanism on environment and climate, as well as to build a China-EU green partnership. In June 2024, Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang held the 5th China-EU High-Level Environment and Climate Dialogue with the European Commission Executive Vice-President Sefcovic in Brussels.
During President Xi Jinping's video meeting with the leaders of Germany and the EU in September 2020, China and the EU reached the consensus on establishing of China-EU High-Level Digital Dialogue. The first China-EU High-Level Digital Dialogue was held in September 2020.
In September 2023, Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing held the 2nd China-EU High-Level Digital Dialogue with the European Commission Vice-President Yao Rova.
In 1997, China and the EU established a mechanism for energy working group meetings. In May 2012, the China-EU High-Level Meeting on Energy was held in Brussels, announcing the establishment of a China-EU strategic energy consumer partnership. In October 2023, the 11th China-EU Energy Dialogue was held in Beijing.
The China-EU High-Level People-to-People Dialogue is a high-level platform established in 2012 to strengthen people-to-people exchanges between China and the EU. In March 2024, State Councilor Shen Yiqin and Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth, co-chaired the 6th meeting of the Dialogue in Beijing.
In 2003, China and the EU signed a joint declaration on strengthening cultural exchanges and cooperation. The year 2012 was designated as the "China-EU Year of Intercultural Dialogue", with its opening ceremony held in Brussels in February and the closing ceremony in Beijing in November. 2011 was designated as the "China-EU Year of Youth", which is the first themed year jointly organized by the two sides since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
2018 was designated as the "China-EU Tourism Year", featuring a range of events. The opening ceremony was held in Venice, Italy in January, and the closing ceremony in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province in November.
In 1994, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) was established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 2007, China and the EU signed a joint declaration on education and vocational training which set the basis for a structured education policy dialogue. The China-EU School of Law was founded at China University of Political Science and Law in 2008. During President Xi Jinping's visit to France in May 2024, he announced that China will promote the number of French students studying in China to exceed 10,000 in the next three years, and double the scale of European youth exchanges in China.
Additionally, China and the EU have conducted fruitful dialogues and cooperation in fields including finance, industry, agriculture, transport, information technology, water resources, press and publication, social affairs, health, judicial affairs, and public administration.