Background

Introduction to China-EU summit

(cctv.com)
Updated: 2010-09-28 16:07

The China-EU Summit is the highest-level dialogue between the two sides. During the annual event, leaders from China and the EU discuss regional and international issues of common concerns.

The first China-EU Summit took place in April 1998 in London, when the UK held the rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU.

Then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji met with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the president of the European Commission Jose Santer. After the meeting, the two sides issued "a Joint Statement", hoping to build a stable constructive partnership and make the summit an annual event.

The EU also reiterated its stance on China's entry into the WTO. Both sides stressed strengthening trade relations was the basis for the China-EU relation.

Ever since then, the China-EU Summit has been an annual event, alternating between China and the country currently hosting the EU presidency.

So far, eleven Summits have been held. Eight cities have hosted the event.

During past Summits, some achievements were made, and hurdles passed.

In October 2003, the sixth China-EU Summit was held in Beijing. The two sides inked a cooperation agreement on Galileo, the civil global navigation satellite system developed by the EU, and two documents on bilateral collaboration on industry and tourism.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi witnessed the signing ceremony. Wen Jiabao called the three agreements "a milestone" in the development of Sino-EU relations. Both sides hoped bilateral trade volume could reach 150 billion US dollars by 2007, and 200 billion by 2013.

At the 2007 China-EU Summit. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and the president of the EU Commission in Beijing. The two sides traced back the achievements between China and the European Union the past ten years, and made blueprints for the development of future bilateral ties.

The 11th China-EU Summit scheduled for December, 2008 was put off after French President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted on meeting the Dalai Lama. Finally in May, 2009, the postponed summit was held in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, marking a restoration of the two sides' diplomatic ties. During the meeting, both sides reaffirmed the partnership between them in addressing some major challenges, especially how to deal with the global economic crisis through concerted action.

The 12th China-EU Summit kicked off November 30 of 2009 in Nanjing, the capital city of China's Jiangsu province. This is the first time the summit has taken place in a Chinese city other than Beijing.