This year we are proud to celebrate a major milestone: the 25^th anniversary of the establishment of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

The European Chamber was born out of the need for a unified voice for European business in China. It was tasked with both monitoring China’s progress on its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession commitments; and advocating for improvements to China’s business environment.

In the quarter of a century since, the European Union (EU)-China trade and investment relationship has taken flight, creating significant value for both regions.  

China has become the world’s manufacturing superpower, a success story European Chamber members have contributed to by bringing investment and technological know-how. Their presence created a virtuous cycle, helping China to scale up and develop unparallelled manufacturing clusters, which in turn attracted more investment.

China has developed into an economic superpower as well, creating remarkable growth opportunities for foreign and Chinese companies alike, and its highly demanding customer base, coupled with the ability to rapidly commercialise new products, has turned the country into a global innovation hub.

For its part, the European Chamber has grown in step with China’s economy: from an initial membership of 51 founding companies in one city, spread across 16 working groups, we now represent over 1,600 members, organised across 53 working groups, sub-working groups, industry desks, fora and task forces in seven local chapters across nine cities. I am proud to say that the European Chamber—as both an advocacy platform and a source of business intelligence—is now an indispensable tool for our many member companies.

Still, the past 25 years have not all been plain sailing, with domestic and global challenges having grown substantially in both abundance and severity during this time.

Much of the optimism present at the time of China’s WTO accession has given way to increasing concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have exposed the fragility of global supply chains; and concerns related to overreliance on China and the potential weaponisation of trade dependencies are now increasingly common in the corridors of Brussels and EU Member State capitals.  

With free trade and globalisation being called into question like never before, there is a palpable sense of urgency for the EU and China to build a more equitable relationship, based on a more sustainable model of cooperation that will enable both sides to continue to prosper.  

To facilitate this, the European Chamber remains committed to serving the interests of our members, and to providing candid and reliable information to ensure that the conditions faced by European companies operating on the ground in China are well understood, both by policymakers on either side of the Eurasian continent and decision makers in company headquarters. We will continue to provide tangible, constructive recommendations on steps the Chinese authorities can take to address economic headwinds and optimise the business environment in order to build investor confidence.

We believe that this will pave the way for the next 25 years and beyond.