The Analysis Of The Development OF EU-china Relations From The Perspective Of EU Cognitions On China’s National Identity

China-EU relations are significant for both sides. During the37years since China established the diplomatic relation with EC in1975, bilateral relations have experienced fluctuation and transition in spite of the high expectations from China and EU. To explain the process of China-EU relations, identity and cognition could be supportive factors. The proposed topic is that EU cognition on China’s identities is the main factors which influence China-EU relations. This article proceeds from the perspective of national identity theory of constructivism, exploring how EU cognition on China’s national identities has changed, subsequently how the changed cognition posed the impacts on the definition of the interests and regularization of the behavior, and finally influenced bilateral relations. Based on ontology, constructivism indicates that nations, as the main actors in the international society, have national identities, which define the interests of the actors, thereby regularizing the behavior. The construction of the identity depends on the international co-operation culture, and can be cognized by other actors. This theory provides a new perspective of the analysis of China-EU relations, and can also explain why China and EC could co-operate in the Cold War, but conflicted in the new century with the trend of economic globalization.The main viewpoint is that EU cognition on China’s identities keeps changing, which leads to the change of the policies towards China, thereby causing the transition of bilateral relations. National identity is constructed during the process of interaction in the context of international system and international co-operation culture, in the process of action, the identity can be cognized by other actors, the cognition is affected by the external environment such as international system and international co-operation culture, as well as the internal qualities such as national powers, ideologies and values, the cognition finally constructs the corresponding identity of the actor, which can define the interests and desires in bilateral relations, thereby influencing the relations.The core content of this article is to analyze how China-EU relations have translated during the process of the development of the cognition. To review the process of China-EU relation, it has experienced five main stages, every stage has a dominant cognition on China’s identity, which is "China open theory","China collapse theory","China partner theory","China challenge theory" and "China responsibility theory" respectively, meanwhile, every cognition has a corresponding China’s national identity, which is "an elementary participator in international society","a conservative socialist country","a maturing partner","the single most important challenge","a major power with greater responsibilities" respectively. Each identity in one stage defines the interests of the actors, thereby regularizing the policies on China. The relationship between the cognition and bilateral relations is dynamic, accompanying the transition of the international system and co-operation culture, associated with the bilateral interaction, China’s identity will change as well, which will construct a new cognition of EU, the new cognition will again define the interests and regularize the behavior, thereby influencing China-EU relation. The transition of identities and cognitions causes the change of bilateral relations. By summarizing the process of China-EU relations, we can find out that the positive cognitions lead to the co-operation between China and EU, while the negative cognitions cause the breaking-up of bilateral relations. Looking into the future, because of the differences of the political system and culture, etc, there will still be complexity and nondeterminacy in bilateral relations, but by enhancing the understanding and expanding the shared knowledge, a benign and stable China-EU relation can be expected.