Partnership for Global Challenges

It was 45 years ago, on May 6, 1975, in Beijing when Christopher Soames, Vice President of the European Economic Community (EEC) Commission in charge of external relations, and Qiao Guanhua, Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, formalized the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides. The day before, despite his hospitalization, Premier Zhou Enlai insisted on receiving Soames.

China’s recognition of European integration echoed its strategic intention to counter the desire for hegemony of the superpowers by relying as much on the desire