Past 50 years offer guide to future of relationship

On May 6, 1975, then European Commission vice-president Christopher Soames and the then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai opened the first chapter of diplomatic relations between the then European Economic Community and China.

This was a different Europe: smaller — with only nine member states — and still primarily focused on economic matters, hence it was an "economic community" and not the union that would be established in 1993. It was also a different China: with an economy half the size of that of France. It was just beginning to open up in a process that would result in an unparalleled economic transformation. And the backdrop to this was a world engulfed in a Cold War of geopolitical rivalry and ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.

During Soames' visit to China in 1975, China expressed its support for a strong and united Europe as a vital contribution to a peaceful world and committed to conduct its future international economic relations in the spirit of dialogue and cooperation and not confrontation.