Whether it is commodity prices or exchange rates, nuclear non-proliferation or climate change, the European Union and China are discovering that there is virtually no economic topic or international security issue these days on which their interests do not intersect – and sometimes collide.

In the 32 years since China and the then European Economic Community established diplomatic ties, the Beijing-Brussels relationship has evolved from a one-dimensional, trade-based affair into a complex partnership that combines growing interdependence with various points of friction and residual misgivings.