Introduction

The European Parliament's Delegation for relations with China (D-CN) was established following the first direct European elections in 1979. From the following year, inter-parliamentary meetings (IPMs) brought together Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and Chinese legislators to discuss issues of mutual interest, until the unfortunate freeze of the diplomatic relations.

In March 2021, when the People's Republic of China (PRC) sanctioned ten individuals of which five were Members of the European Parliament as well as the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Political and Security Committee of the Council, the bilateral relations were frozen. The sanctions were Chinese retaliation of the EU Foreign Ministers sanctions on four Chinese individuals and one Chinese entity for the reason that of atrocious human rights violations. While the EU sanctioned individuals and an entity that were responsible for human rights violations in the PRC, the PRC sanctioned the criticisers of human rights violations. One of the MEP sanctioned by PRC was the former Chair of this China Delegation, Mr Reinhard Bütikofer.

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic relations. In this landmark year, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China communicated to the President of the European Parliament the decision to lift sanctions on Members of the European Parliament and the DROI Subcommittee. This important step paved the way for the full resumption of regular interparliamentary relations between the European Parliament and the People's Republic of China. After a seven-year pause, the 42nd EU-China Interparliamentary Meeting (IPM) was held in Brussels in 2025, symbolizing a renewed commitment to open dialogue.

The EU and China

The EU's China policy is defined by the 'Elements for a new EU Strategy on China' and 'Council Conclusions EU Strategy on China' which were reviewed in 2019 in the 'EU-China Strategic Outlook'. Together these documents reflect the fundamental premises of the EU's engagement based on a realistic, assertive and multi-faceted approach in order to promote democracy, rule of law, human rights, and respect for the UN Charter and international law, with the pursuit for reciprocal benefits in political and economic relations.

The practical cooperation agenda for the EU and China is set out by multiple cooperation initiatives and exchanges that covers the wide areas from peace and security, prosperity, sustainable development, and people-to-people exchanges to trade and economic relations

Bilateral relations between the EU and the PRC are conducted at the highest level through the annual EU-China Summit, which is usually preceded by the key bilateral dialogues: the Strategic Dialogue, the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, the High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED) and the High-Level People-to-People Dialogue and many more.

Meetings

The delegation holds frequent meetings in Brussels and in Strasbourg. These include exchanges of views on topical issues, with experts invited from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission, think tanks, academia, the media, civil society and others.

The annual inter-parliamentary meetings with Chinese counterparts that had been stopped ever since the PRC placed sanctions to MEPs and to the DROI Subcommittee, were reinstated and the 42nd EU-People's Republic of China Inter-parliamentary Meeting was held in Brussels on 16 October 2025.

Composition

The Delegation counts 38 full members, making it one of the Parliament's largest delegation. Full Members are supported by an equal number of substitutes. The European Parliament's political groups, reflecting the Parliament's political balance, nominate all delegation members and substitute members.

The Chair of the delegation in the 10th legislative term is Mr Engin EROGLU (Renew Europe, DE). He is supported by the first Vice-Chair Ms Markéta GREGOROVÁ (Greens /ALE, CZ) and the second Vice-Chair Mr René REPASI (S&D, DE).

The D-CN is assisted by the Secretariat. Desk Officer on China follows the societal, political and economic developments of PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.