In last 35 years since the establishment of China-EU diplomatic ties, China-EU trade and economic relations keep steady development. As the six enlargements of the EU, China-EU economic and trade cooperation is increasingly close and the status of the EU in China’s foreign cooperation in economy and trade is rising steadily.

The two-way visits by China and the EU leaders are frequent. In January of 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid a visit to the EU headquarters; in the beginning of May, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan visited the EU headquarters and hold the 2nd China-EU High-level Trade and Economic Dialogue; in the mid of May and the end of November of 2009, the 11th and 12th China-EU Summits were held in Prague, capital of Czech and Nanjing, China, respectively. Besides, Chinese leaders paid more visits to EU members: Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Italy and Slovakia; Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Britain and Spain; Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania. Leaders from the EU and its members also visited China frequently. On April 29 of 2010, the current President of European Commission (EC) Barroso led members of EC to visit China and called on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. They also attended the opening ceremony of Shanghai Expo. The two-way visits of leaders from the EU and China provided strong political motivation for the development of China-EU trade and economic relations, vigorously improved the confidence of the business community, and led the Chinese and European economies to get rid of the bad impacts of the international financial crisis.

The EU was the largest trade partner, the largest export market, the largest source of technology import, the second largest import market and the fourth largest source of accumulated foreign capital of China for many years. And in 2009, the EU became the third largest source of foreign capital surpassing Japan. China was the second largest trade partner and the largest import source of the EU for many years. What’s more, in 2009, China surpassed Russia and became EU’s third largest export market

According to the statistics of China, in 2009, China-EU trade value amounted to US$ 364.1 billion, accounting for 16.5% of the total trade value of China. China’s exports to the EU amounted to US$ 236.28 billion, accounting for 19.7% of China’s total export value; China’s imports from the EU amounted to US$ 127.8 billion, accounting for 12.7% of China’s total import value (only 0.3 percentage points lower than Japan, the first largest import market of the EU). China’s import from the EU decreased by 3.6%, much lower than 19.4%, which was the decreasing range of China’s export to the EU. China’s trade surplus with the EU was down by 32.3%.

In the first quarter of 2010, China-EU trade value reached US$ 101.47 billion, up by 35.1% year on year, accounting for 16.4% of China’ s total foreign trade value. Among them, China’s export to the EU reached US$ 65.37 billion, accounting for 20.7% of China’s total export value; China’s import from the EU rose by 43% year on year to US$ 36.09, accounting for 12% of China’s total import value and much higher than 31%, the growth of China’s export to the EU.

Despite the financial crisis, the trade between China and the EU was steady as well as the market. And the development of the trade was more balanced. The status of the EU in China’s foreign trade was consolidated and improved.

According to the statistics of the EU, in 2009, China-EU trade reached 296.3 billion euro, down by 9.2%, accounting for 12.9% of the foreign trade of the EU. The EU’s export decreased by 16% in general, but its export to China rose by 4% to 81.6 billion euro. And thus, in the Top 10 trade partners, China is the only country for the EU to realize the growth in the EU’s export. The EU’s export value to China took up 6.8 percent of the total export value of the EU, increasing 08 percentage points instead of that in 2008. Meanwhile, in 2009, the EU’s export was down by 23% year on year, however, its import from China was only down by 13%, which was lower than that from the rest partners in Top 10 (except Switzerland). In the same year, the EU’s import from China accounted for 17.9% of its total import, increasing 2.1 percentage points than that in 2008. And the EU’s trade deficit with China decreased by 21.5% year on year to 133.1 billion euro.

The EU has been the fourth largest source of accumulated foreign capital of China for many years, after Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands and Japan. Up to 2009, the actual capital investment from the EU amounted to US$ 67.7 billion, about US$ 2 billion lower than that from the third largest source Japan. In 2009, China’s foreign capital from the EU amounted to US$ 5.952 billion, which made the EU became the third largest source instead of Japan. Besides, the growth rate of investment from 11 the EU members reached double-digit, including Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and Luxemburg. The EU’s investment in China featured the high amount in an item, broader coverage in industries and advanced technologies. European-funded enterprises in China have become the new force in foreign-funded enterprises and made greater contributions to the economic development of China.

Despite the late start of the direct investment in the EU and the small amount, the total amount of the investment in the EU has showed the positive momentum. By the end of 2009, China’s accumulated investment in the EU had amounted to US$ 3.67 billion, among which, in 2009, China’s investment in the EU rose by 80.8 percent year on year to US$ 470 million, accounting for 13 percent of China’s accumulated investment in the EU. Besides, China’s investment in 15 members of the EU increased remarkably, including Britain and France.

The EU is always the largest technology import source for China. In 2009, China imported 2,772 items of technology, focused on the fields of railway transportation, electronic equipments, new energy, etc, with the value of US$ 6.43 billion from the EU, amounting for 30% of the total value of China’s technology import. And now, China is vigorously developing the low-carbon economy and green economy while the EU is leading in these areas. And thus, China-EU cooperation in technology has great potential.

China-EU cooperation in economy and trade has a solid foundation, strong political motivation and great opportunities. When coping with the financial crisis, the two parties are actively developing new cooperation fields and seeking new growth opportunities while consolidating the cooperation base. Under the direction of China-EU comprehensive strategic partner relationship, China-EU trade and economic cooperation will be further deepened and consolidated, and the relations will be much closer in the future.