The visit by President Xi Jinping to Brussels this month comes at a time when both the EU and China are in transition and will be an opportunity to set a new course in the relationship.
This will be Xi's first visit to Brussels since becoming China's president and secretary general of the CPC Central Committee, and thus an opportunity to enhance his own relationship with the EU.
When Xi visited Brussels last time, there were still many unknowns surrounding the policy direction that China would take under his leadership. Now the policy direction has become much clearer, and this will be one of the most important factors underlying the visit.
However, in one respect the visit is unfortunately timed. While China has already undergone its leadership transition, the EU is entering a period of political change. There will be elections for the European Parliament and a new European Commission later this year. Thus, Xi will be meeting with the EU's outgoing rather than with its new leadership.
Whether this makes any real difference will depend on the incoming commission. The fundamental questions that both sides face in the relationship will remain the same, but a new commission may wish to put its own stamp on the approach of the EU to China, one of its most important external relationships.
Still, Xi will have the opportunity to lay the foundation for the future during his visit by showing the direction that China wants to go in.
While the focus of the visit to Brussels will be on the bilateral relationship, the most important aspect of what Xi can bring to Europe is domestic.
More than any specific ideas on the relationship with the EU that Xi can bring to Brussels, the greatest impact will be on the policies adopted inside China itself.
Since Xi became top leader, China has launched itself on an ambitious program of reform and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has given us a map of where this will lead. This adds a new dynamic to the relationship between the EU and China.
China has of course been changing rapidly over the past three decades. But the reforms proposed, if they are successfully implemented, will bring about new fundamental changes in China. They will create a Chinese economy that will enjoy more sustainable long-term growth and that will be more internationalized. These changes will not be only domestic, but will also affect the EU and the relationship between the EU and China.
Europe, and the rest of the world, can reap benefits from China's reform driven by its domestic needs. From the European perspective, a more open Chinese economy with sustainable growth benefits the EU. The benefits may be direct, since as a major economic partner, China will create opportunities for trade and investment. And indirectly, a stable Chinese economy with balanced growth helps the global economy, and thus the EU, in its emergence from years of continuing crisis.
Even if the Chinese economy grows more slowly than in the past, as many predict, Europe stands to benefit from this. The key is not the slower growth, but how the growth takes place.
For instance, the shift in emphasis of the Chinese economy to services will benefit European service providers, and this is an area where the EU and China can do more both bilaterally and in global negotiations to expand access to the services sector.
Complexities and challenges exist on both sides. The EU is undergoing a process of response to the crisis that first emerged in 2008 and also internal reform.
This will create a new institutional framework and relationship between Brussels and the member states of the EU.
Europe has been slow to respond to the crisis, but it remains important globally. As important as the EU's policy on China itself will be what the new institutional configuration in the EU looks like, and whether the policy response to the crisis creates a new economic dynamic.
A major challenge for the EU will be to address its policies on China not just to the China of today, but where China will be in five or 10 years from now. Both the EU and China need to understand the processes of change taking place in their partners. A successful visit by Xi to Brussels will enhance this understanding.
