The European Union and China, 1949-2008: Basic Documents and Commentary

Description

This book is a comprehensive reference book and commentary on basic documents about relations between the EU and the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the present. It contains all significant official and unofficial documents in English and Chinese about EU-China relations since the founding of the PRC in 1949. Since the opening-up of China in 1979, and especially after the establishment of the EU in 1992, relations between the EU and China have developed apace. Today the EU and China are 'strategic partners', with a very broad-based relationship, extending far beyond trade to encompass a growing number of important economic, political, social and cultural domains. The relationship is certain to gain in importance with increasing globalisation, EU expansion, Chinese membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the renewal and development of China, and changes in the international trading system and international politics. This book provides an indispensable foundation for teaching, research, policy-making and advising on EU-China relations. It includes both documents originally published in English and English translations of documents previously available only in Chinese, French or Portuguese. Essential to every library, it will also be required reading for students, teachers, researchers, policy-makers, legal practitioners and government officials in the EU, China, the United States and elsewhere.

Francis Snyder is Visiting Professor, (formerly Centennial Professor) in the Law Department at the LSE, Professeur des Universites and Professor of Public Law at the Universite Paul Cezanne Aix-Marseille III and Guest Professor at Peking University Law School. He is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges and holds an EU Jean Monnet Chair ad personam.

I regard this book as an invaluable masterpiece for all-purpose use in the studies of EU-China relations and even beyond...It is also an invaluable research tool, a good starting point for almost any project in EU-China relations. I would like to say that this book is a fine tour guide of EU-China relations for both academic and practical purposes. One can not only find out evolutionary routes toward EU-China relations, but also benefit from vivid and featured comments. -- Lingliang Zeng * Frontiers of Law in China, Volume 6, Number 1 *