EU-CHINA RELATIONS: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES.

This chapter offers and in-depth examination of the origins and the development of EU-China relations, in the context of the EU-China 'Strategic Partnership'. The chapter looks at how contemporary, bilateral, Member State relations have formed the background to the emergence of EU policies with regard to the PRC. It places a particular focus on offering a contribution which can help in our understanding of how the actors in the EU and in China view each other. The chapter examines how perceptions which shape the contemporary EU-China relationship have been influenced by the legacies of past encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]