The European Parliament will send a delegation to Beijing and Shanghai on March 31-April 2, including members of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and the head of its China delegation, the parliament confirmed in a March 26 press release. The delegation will meet Chinese officials, lawmakers, customs authorities and e-commerce giants, with discussions set to focus on digital regulation, strategic autonomy, consumer protection and product safety.

The visit marks the European Parliament's first delegation to China in eight years, following a prolonged freeze on travel amid pandemic restrictions and reciprocal sanctions over human rights concerns in Xinjiang. The Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection delegation will precede trips by the official China delegation in May, the Foreign Affairs Committee in July and the Trade Committee in October. Engagement resumed in 2025 after Beijing lifted sanctions on several members of the European Parliament and parliament committees that had effectively frozen formal parliamentary engagement since 2021 over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, reopening dialogue and enabling the planned parliamentary trips.