ABSTRACT
Energy was not a significant concern for either contemporary China or Western European countries to formally re-connect with each other until after 1971, the year of tectonic change in China’s pursuit of economic and political relations with the rest of the world. It did not take long for energy to feature as a substantive issue area for Sino-European diplomatic interactions. The China-EEC trade and economic cooperation agreement, signed in 1985, covered industry, agriculture, science, energy, transportation, environmental protection, and development aid. It needs to be noted, though, that it was not until 1988 for China and the EEC to exchange permanent diplomatic missions, a necessary instrument for enforcing cooperation agreements. Furthermore, re-normalization of a comprehensive relationship did not happen until 1995, when the European Union (EU) announced its first strategy paper on relations with China.
