A senior delegation from the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee will travel to Beijing and Shanghai next week in what is likely to become one of the most closely watched parliamentary missions to China since relations between Brussels and Beijing entered a prolonged period of diplomatic strain.
The visit, scheduled for 20–24th July, comes at a moment when the European Union is attempting to reconcile two increasingly difficult objectives: preserving an economically indispensable relationship with the world’s second-largest economy while responding to mounting concerns over security, technology, market access and geopolitical competition.
Officially, the delegation’s agenda is straightforward. Members of the European Parliament will meet counterparts in China’s National People’s Congress, hold discussions with senior government officials and representatives of business and academia, and visit both Beijing and Shanghai. According to the European Parliament, the objective is to deepen dialogue on EU-China relations while discussing areas of cooperation and persistent disagreement.
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Behind the carefully worded diplomatic language lies a far more complicated reality. Relations between Brussels and Beijing have undergone a profound transformation over the past five years. The optimism that once surrounded negotiations over the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment has largely evaporated, replaced by disputes over industrial subsidies, access to critical technologies, supply-chain resilience and Beijing’s strategic alignment with Russia.
European policymakers increasingly describe China simultaneously as a partner, an economic competitor and a systemic rival—a formulation that neatly captures the contradictions confronting European foreign policy.
Those contradictions are unlikely to disappear during a week of parliamentary diplomacy.
The timing of the visit is nevertheless significant. Following last year’s decision to lift mutual sanctions that had effectively frozen parliamentary contacts, both sides have shown tentative signs of restoring institutional dialogue. Beijing has sought to improve its relationship with European capitals at a time when trade tensions with the United States remain acute, while the EU has shown little appetite for complete economic decoupling from China.
Yet engagement today is very different from engagement a decade ago.
European businesses continue to regard China as an essential market, particularly in sectors ranging from automotive manufacturing to luxury goods and industrial machinery. At the same time, concerns over forced technology transfers, state subsidies and unequal market access have become central features of European economic policy.
The European Commission’s growing emphasis on “de-risking” rather than “decoupling” reflects an attempt to strike a difficult balance: reducing strategic vulnerabilities without abandoning commercial engagement. That nuanced position is likely to shape the parliamentary discussions in Beijing.
Trade will inevitably dominate many conversations. European companies remain frustrated by barriers affecting procurement, data regulation and investment opportunities inside China, while Chinese officials continue to criticise European investigations into electric vehicle subsidies and restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports.
Neither side expects rapid breakthroughs. Instead, the visit appears designed to keep channels of communication open at a time when global politics offers few opportunities for diplomatic complacency.
Security questions will also feature prominently. Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine has widened political differences between Europe and China. While Beijing has consistently presented itself as neutral, European governments have repeatedly questioned China’s willingness to use its influence over Moscow.
At the same time, concerns over Taiwan continue to cast a long shadow over EU-China relations. European policymakers increasingly emphasise stability in the Taiwan Strait as a matter of global economic security, particularly given Taiwan’s central role in semiconductor production.
These strategic issues make parliamentary engagement considerably more sensitive than traditional trade diplomacy.
The choice of Shanghai as part of the itinerary also carries symbolic importance. As China’s financial centre and one of its principal gateways for international business, Shanghai represents the commercial dimension of a relationship that remains extraordinarily valuable despite political tensions.
European investment in China has slowed, but it has by no means disappeared. Likewise, Chinese companies continue to view Europe as an attractive destination for investment, particularly in electric vehicles, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.
The challenge for policymakers is ensuring that economic interdependence does not translate into strategic dependency. That debate has become increasingly central within European institutions.
For the European Parliament itself, the mission reflects a broader effort to reassert parliamentary diplomacy after several years in which institutional contacts were severely constrained.
Unlike executive negotiations conducted by the Commission or the European External Action Service, parliamentary exchanges often provide opportunities for frank discussions on issues ranging from human rights and civil liberties to academic freedom and international law.
Whether such conversations produce tangible outcomes is another matter.
China has traditionally preferred engagement focused on economic cooperation while resisting external criticism of its domestic governance. European parliamentarians, by contrast, have frequently insisted that political dialogue cannot be separated from questions of fundamental rights.
Those differing assumptions are unlikely to disappear over the course of a five-day visit.
Still, diplomacy is rarely judged solely by immediate results. In an increasingly fragmented international environment, maintaining channels of communication has become an objective in its own right.
The Foreign Affairs Committee’s visit is therefore less about resolving the many disagreements dividing Brussels and Beijing than about managing them responsibly. For both sides, that may represent the most realistic ambition currently available.
As Europe’s relationship with China continues to evolve, the challenge will not be choosing between engagement and confrontation. It will be determining how to pursue both simultaneously—cooperating where interests align while defending strategic and political principles where they diverge. That balancing act is likely to define EU-China relations for years to come.
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