The Political Dialogue of EU-China Relations

Ever since the start of EU-China relations in the 1970s, the economic factor has dominated the relationship and is likely to do so for the immediate future. The political aspect of EU-China relations only started to acquire a distinct profile in the mid to late 1990s. They have progressed rapidly since, especially after the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2003. It is the aim of this paper to explore the effectiveness of the EU in its political relations with China, e.g., the compliance by China with EU values and norms. While, in practice, it is not easy to separate the political from the security aspect, for analytical reasons a distinction will be made, as far as possible, in this paper along those lines. The paper will first turn to the nature of the EU-China partnership, then proceeds with a treatment of the political dialogue between the EU and China, reviewing the content, history and drivers of that dialogue, and in the latter part examine human rights disputes, dealing with the different perspectives and values/norms of the two partners on this subject.