EU naval ties in search of more wind

Two Chinese Navy vessels, CNS Yancheng and CNS Taihu, conducted a joint counter-piracy exercise with two EU Naval Force warships, FS Siroco and FGS Hessen, in the Gulf of Aden on March 20. The exercise included maneuvering of ships, refueling at sea, joint boarding and small-arms firing, with military helicopters hovering above. Significant as the exercise was, being the first between China and the European Union, it also laid the groundwork for President Xi Jinping's visit to Brussels on March 31.

China-EU military exchanges will help deepen trust between the two militaries as well as contribute to broader China-EU ties. Economic relations between China and the EU are strong with the EU being the largest trading partner of China, and China being the second largest for the EU.

On the defense front, five China-EU security policy dialogues have been held since 2010. And Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy and security chief, has held regular meetings with Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and former defense minister Liang Guanglie.

Counter-piracy cooperation is in the spotlight of China's military exchanges with other countries, and China's Naval Task Forces interact daily with other navies. But much more has been achieved with the EU.

As one of the chairs of Shared Awareness and De-conflict meeting, which coordinates counter-piracy operations of international navies, the EU helps coordinate convoys among independent contributors such as China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

China's Naval Task Forces assist the EU in escorting ships of World Food Program, and among the "big three" - the EU, NATO and Combined Maritime Forces - EU Atlanta is the only coalition that China has conducted exercises with. China and the EU also send observers to each other's ships.

Before Xi's visit to Brussels, China published its second policy paper on the EU, expressing its wish to expedite personnel exchanges at various levels, expand the area and scope of practical cooperation, improve the dialogue mechanism on security policies and create conditions for gradually elevating the level of the dialogue. It also reiterated that the EU should lift its arms embargo on China as soon as possible.

Having multi-level exchanges of personnel and dialogues with China should be easy for the EU because the two sides have made some progress in the two fields. But the problem is the EU arms embargo on China since late 1980s. The embargo may not have prevented China from developing an impressive R&D wing for its defense industry, but it has a symbolic significance, which Beijing sees as political discrimination.