China’s Foreign Ministry said on 16 July that Beijing and the European Parliament have “simultaneously and comprehensively” lifted all restrictions on contacts between their respective legislative bodies, marking the first formal step toward restoring parliamentary dialogue since relations soured four years ago over human-rights disputes. The announcement follows Beijing’s decision to remove sanctions on Reinhard Bütikofer, a former German Green member of the European Parliament who had been black-listed since 2021 when China retaliated against EU measures targeting officials over alleged abuses in Xinjiang. Sanctions on sitting MEPs were rescinded in April, but Bütikofer’s case had remained a sticking point for lawmakers pressing for full normalisation. Both moves come ahead of a China-EU summit scheduled for later this month in Beijing, where President Xi Jinping will host European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa. Brussels has been calling for better market access and a narrowing of its roughly US$357 billion goods-trade deficit with China, while Beijing has urged the bloc to adopt what it calls a “more objective and rational” stance toward bilateral ties.