At its meeting held on 15 and 16 December 2005, the European Council adopted the EU Strategy to combat the illicit accumulation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons (hereinafter ‘SALW’) and their ammunition (hereinafter ‘EU SALW Strategy’). The Strategy identifies the African continent as one of the regions most affected by the illegal trade and excessive accumulation of SALW.

The EU SALW Strategy defines several tasks to be fulfilled by the Union, including the research of consensus within exporting countries with a view to supplying small arms to governments only, in accordance with restrictive and appropriate regional and international criteria on arms exports.

The EU SALW Strategy also recommends the inclusion of SALW as a topic to be addressed in the political dialogue with third countries and international, regional or sub-regional organisations, paying special attention to the coordination of actions with the Union's main partners and major SALW exporters, including China.

The Council of the European Union adopted in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 Council Conclusions in support of the negotiation of an Arms Trade Treaty, a legally binding international instrument establishing common international standards for transfers of conventional weapons. It underlined the importance of cooperation in this process with other States and regional organisations.

Since its establishment in 2005, the EU-China Strategic Dialogue includes provisions for dialogue on non-proliferation and conventional arms exports. China and the Union agreed at their 2006 Summit to create a new dialogue on Africa's peace, stability, and sustainable development, in order to foster understanding between partners, to discuss activities and priorities, and to provide an opportunity for integrating China into international efforts to improve and coordinate cooperation activities. The 2007-2013 EU-China Strategy Paper defines the fundamental approach of the Union to China as one of engagement and partnership and singles out cooperation to prevent the illicit trade in SALW as a priority.

In December 2004 China and the Union signed a Joint Declaration on non-proliferation and disarmament, covering also cooperation in the field of conventional weapons. In the Joint Declaration, the Union and China noted that ‘positive and active efforts must also be made to strengthen controls over exports of conventional weapons. The arms control regimes concerning certain conventional weapons need to be strengthened. Efforts to prevent illicit trade of small arms and light weapons and flows of those weapons that would impair regional peace and stability, should be enhanced.’

The 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership defines the prevention of the illicit trade in and excessive accumulation of SALW as an area for action through enhancing capacity, networking, cooperation and exchange of information. China was invited and participated as an observer in the 2010 EU-Africa Summit,