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Sino-EU Relations The European Union (EU) is an important power with great influence in the world. Its membership has been enlarged to 25 with the entry of 10 new members on May 1, 2004, which largely enhances its strength. The comprehensive partnership between China and the EU has been strengthened with the increase of common grounds and enhanced mutually beneficial cooperation.
The attendance of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the South-North leaders' informal dialogue meeting in French spa town Evian on June 1, 2003, became the highlight of the meeting, which is seen a signal of China's active participation in world affairs in a new era.

In January 2004, President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to France. On January 27, which marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, the two countries signed the Sino-French Joint Statement, in which they set guidelines for developing a comprehensive strategic partnership and key fields in which the two countries would intensify cooperation, showing that Sino-French cooperation has entered a new period.

President Hu also elaborated China's EU policy in Paris, stressing that China supports the EU's integration process, attaches great attention to the EU's role and influence in regional and international affairs and is willing to develop a Sino-EU comprehensive strategic partnership on the basis of mutual respect, equality and reciprocity.

On October 30, 2003, the Sixth China-EU Summit was held in Beijing. Both sides recognized the progress of China-EU relations after the Fifth Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in September 2002. Both sides believe that the high-level political dialogue between China and the EU are fruitful, and their talks and consultations at all levels have been furthered and expanded. The formation of this multi-level framework shows that the China-EU partnership is growing mature and is increasingly strategic. Leaders of both sides welcomed the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Galileo Satellite Navigation System and a memorandum of understanding on the EU member states' approved destination status, agreeing that the two documents are an important milestone of bilateral relations and hoping they would be implemented earlier.

Leaders of both sides also welcomed the issue of policy papers on both sides toward each other in 2003. The two documents express satisfaction with the great development of China-EU relations, come up with a clear policy target of China-EU relations and put forward new proposals in many new areas. Both sides believe that the policy papers set the development direction of China-EU relations and will inject new vitality into bilateral relations. Leaders of both sides design important areas of cooperation, including further strengthening high-level exchange visits and political dialogue, cooperation in economic and trade fields and on important international and regional issues and cooperation within a multilateral framework.