2025 was a busy year for diplomatic exchanges between China and Europe – with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi visiting Germany, France, the UK and Belgium, to name just a few countries, and European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Spain's King Felipe VI and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul travelling to Beijing.

2026 looks set to bring more of the same. But what exactly is at stake in the evolving relationship between two of the world's largest trading powers?

Joining Juliet Mann on this edition of The Agenda are ambassador Piet Steel, former Chair of the Europe Asia Center; Lanxin Xiang, Zijiang, Chair Professor at East China Normal University; Joerg Wuttke, partner at the Albright Stonebridge Group; and Elvire Fabry, senior researcher in Geopolitics of Trade at the Jacques Delors Institute.

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