Although strategic partnerships will be the main focus of the China-EU summit that begins on November 21st in Beijing, expectations are rife that the two sides will eventually sign an investment agreement that aims among other things to reduce simmering trade tensions.

 

According to experts, this China-EU summit is of "special importance" because it will set the tone for future bilateral engagements. Free trade negotiations between China and the EU had not made much progress in the past, because Brussels has yet to grant market economy status to Beijing.

 

From a European perspective, the current summit is also a rare opportunity to study and observe the new Chinese leadership, especially after the just-concluded Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.

 

"I hope this summit is more of a consolidation effort and less of conflict," says Glyn Ford, a five-times former member of the European Parliament. "The European side will be getting to know the new Chinese leadership at close quarters and there will be incremental, rather than radical, moves in political and economic relations."

 

The two sides are expected to discuss trade and investment, human rights, innovation, urbanization, rule of law, people-to-people exchanges and defense and security at the meeting. Discussions will also center on respective domestic situations and other major global issues such as G20 cooperation.

 

Bernard Dewit, president of the Brussels-based Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, says the summit illustrates the need for dialogue between the two sides, especially as the economies are becoming more interdependent.

 

Beyond the investment agreement negotiations, Dewit hopes that both sides will agree on the feasibility studies for a free trade agreement. The FTA is expected to help Chinese and European companies to invest in and access each other's markets.

 

"The new Chinese leadership is clearly willing to reinforce the EU-China strategic leadership and has recognized the importance of the EU in the global economy," Dewit says. "On the other hand, the EU is also serious about deepening its political and economic ties with China."

 

Christopher Dent, professor of East Asia's International Political Economy at the University of Leeds in the UK, says that future Sino-EU ties will hinge on closely inter-related issues such as energy, resources and climate change.

 

"Both sides face stiff challenges on these fronts, challenges that will only become more critically important over time," Dent says.

 

"China and Europe are championing the global efforts on green energy and other sustainable technologies. There is immense scope for cooperation between the two sides," Dent from the University of Leeds says.

 

The China-EU summit this year is one of several political gatherings between Beijing and major global powers since the new Chinese leadership took power. Since its inception in 1998, most of the annual China-EU summits have taken place in the second half of the year.

 

However, trade tensions over solar panels since last September have clouded bilateral relations between the two sides.

 

"Brussels has a love-hate mindset toward Beijing," says former parliamentarian Ford. "The ups and downs of China-EU relations during the past decade have occurred because of the EU's love-hate mindset toward China."

 

Experts say that although there was a honeymoon period after bilateral ties began in 2003, there is still reluctance in Brussels to end the arms embargo on China. Other major irritants included Brussels' defensive measures against Chinese textile exports in 2005 and the latest anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations against China's solar panels.

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