Illustration: Liu Rui

At the 14th China-EU summit held last week in Beijing, China and the EU "applauded the important progress" in negotiations and declared "a new important stage" of their partnership. But like any partnership, the differences in opinion may matter more than the similarities.

China-EU relations have been heavily tilted toward the economic dimension. The strong economic ties have provided the underlying driving force for the relationship over the past 30 years and will keep doing so.

Despite the current crisis, the EU has secured its position as China's largest trading partner and overtook Japan as China's largest source of imports last year. The EU forecasts that China is likely to become its top trading partner this year.

The crisis has also offered new opportunities of boosting China's investment in the EU, a long under-tapped overseas market for Chinese investors. Chinese private companies in particular have made significant progress recently. Economic cooperation on specific areas like energy dominates the Joint Press Communiqué of the Summit released last week.

However, recent developments have put the weakness of the political foundation for the partnership at the forefront.

There are reports that the European Commission is drafting a new law to force China to give more market access for European companies to China's public procurement market. China has banned its airliners from paying the carbon tax imposed by the EU.

The EU insists that the issue be solved through bilateral or multilateral negotiations, or even the courts. Both sides exchanged some criticism against investment barriers. Moreover, while China's possible participation in the euro rescue package has yet to be made clear, it has triggered public controversy both in China and the EU.

None of those frictions are purely economic. Economic issues are prone to be put under more political intervention and pressure in times of crisis than when sailing is smooth, which makes it more difficult and complicated to address those issues. Both Chinese and European governments are facing the challenge of creating a more balanced growth and more employment.

Those frictions indeed partly result from different political decisions on both sides in achieving those goals. Davide Cucino, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) commented, correctly, that China's moving toward a more consumption-oriented, more open economy would not only bring more cooperation, but also more competition in some areas.

Unlike previous trade disputes, focusing on certain products or industrial policies, those issues are about legislation. If negotiations do not work, resorting to the courts is normally interpreted by China as a somewhat unfriendly gesture which should be avoided in a partnership.

In addition, compared with trade, investment means much more direct and intensive exposure to a different legal and political system. With the absence of a bilateral investment agreement, more investment could mean higher conflicts at the level of legal framework. That is particularly true for investment by SMEs or in new energy, which have been identified as priorities of future cooperation.

Business frictions can also affect the political sentiment for cooperation. Some experts are concerned that there are signs that the US business community has developed a less positive attitude toward China over the last two or three years.

That, they think, is one of the reasons for fluctuations between China and the US. This is a lesson that China and the EU should learn from. The annual reports of the EUCCC over the last few years have expressed more and more complaints over the business environment in China.

The weak political foundation for the partnership is particularly reflected in international political affairs. The most important political common ground that China and the EU share is their vision for a multilateralism-oriented world order. However, they differ on the underlying ideation behind that shared vision.

The EU stresses values while China highlights the respect of sovereignty and differences in political systems. That divergence did not cause much trouble before. But with China's rising power in international affairs, problems are increasingly evident.

The recent disagreements between China and the EU on Libya and Syria, for example, have already shown the weakness of the political common interests and the urgency of fixing that weakness.

Facing up to the looming risks ahead, rather than underestimating them, is a good start for both parties to realize the commitments they have made on their partnership.

The author is a Beijing-based journalist. zoeylee28@gmail.com