On 16 July 2018, the 20th "EU-China" summit took place in Beijing, where the two regions agreed to further develop a partnership on topics ranging from climate change to security, as well as the promotion of open and fair trade. Following the EU-China "Blue Year" in 2017 that concerned global activities on ocean matters, a partnership for the oceans has been agreed by the two sides "as a means to improve cooperation aiming at better ocean governance, sustainable fisheries and a thriving maritime economy between the EU and China."

Included in the partnership are plans to collaborate on the fight against marine pollution, including plastic litter and microplastics. EU commissioner Karmenu Vella, who is responsible for the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries, says, "From cleaning up plastic pollution to tackling overfishing, no one country or continent can shoulder these colossal tasks on their own." According to the European Commission, this "landmark" partnership opens the door for further partnerships with other key ocean players.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF, Cowes / UK; www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org) views the Sino-European agreement as a transition to a circular economy in the world’s two largest economies. The foundation points especially to plastics, which are a recent policy priority for both China and the EU. This includes the EU plastics strategy published at the start of 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 19.01.2018 – and China’s ban on certain imported plastics waste – see Plasteurope.com of 26.07.2017.