China, EU Renew Joint Research Pact on Climate and Agriculture Amid Trade Tensions

China and the European Union have reaffirmed their commitment to collaborative scientific research by renewing a joint research agreement. This renewed pact signals a willingness to cooperate on critical global challenges like climate change and agriculture, even amidst persistent trade disputes and economic friction between the two major powers.

The agreement, reported by Chinese state-linked media outlet People's Financial News, is set to run for two years and will support scientific cooperation through to 2027. The collaboration specifically targets areas such as food security, agricultural innovation, biosolutions, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity conservation.

This initiative aims to foster practical research and development projects involving universities, research institutions, and enterprises in both China and the EU. The program is designed to "jointly address global challenges such as climate change," according to the report. China is backing this mechanism through its intergovernmental science and technology cooperation agreements under its National Key Research and Development Programme.

Meanwhile, the European Union is leveraging its flagship research and innovation framework, Horizon Europe, to fund its participation. The renewal of this research pact underscores a strategic effort by both China and the EU to find common ground and pursue shared objectives, particularly in areas of global significance, despite underlying tensions related to trade imbalances, the influx of Chinese electric vehicles into the European market, and geopolitical issues like the war in Ukraine.