What has China to do with the forthcoming European elections? Your first reaction may be to talk about trade and the growing imports of cheap clothing and white goods.

The answer is the Shanghai Cooperation agreement. You may never have heard of it. It is however why the European elections are important to you.

To understand the link you need to go back in time to Harold Macmillan and 1956. An important year 1956; it brought the Suez Crisis and the joining together of six European countries to form the Coal and Steel Community. In 1957 the Treaty of Rome changed the name to the European Economic Community (EEC).

Konrad Adenauer, the West German Chancellor felt the EEC was France's revenge on America for what was seen as treachery over Suez. America was strongly opposed to the British and French invasion of Suez and supported a run on British gold and dollar reserves. America threatened to withhold International Monitory Fund support for the sterling crisis unless British troops were withdrawn, so ending the Suez operation.

For many historians this was the pivotal moment when Britain turned to America for financial and military help and support while France turned to Germany.

Over the next four years the EEC grew in strength and Britain became more closely allied to America, especially over defence. In 1961 Macmillan applied for Britain to join the EEC but was refused entry. Some argue this was because Polaris missiles were bought from the US and De Gaul commented on Britain's ‘privileged assistance from the Americans'.

Under the Wilson government in 1967 a second attempt to join the EEC was made and again refused.

In 1961 Edward Heath led the British team negotiating for entry into the EEC. When he became Prime Minister the application was resurrected under President Pompidou in 1970. For Pompidou the question remained the same, did Britain see its future in a ‘European Europe' and had we broken free from ‘an instinctive and deep seated attachment to the outside world'. Heath argued that ‘the British had always regarded themselves as Europeans. It was only over the past 25 years that it had come to seem as if our natural connection might be with the US. But we are in fact still part of Europe'.

Heath's plea was heard and the application was accepted. Labour opposed the terms of entry and pledged a referendum on EEC membership if they came to power. In June 1975 Britain's only (so far) UK wide referendum took place. The decision to stay in was won by a majority of two to one. The yes vote had 17,378,581 and the no vote 8,470,073. Despite the success of the referendum, membership of what is now the European Community (EC) remains politically controversial.

In 1990 Margaret Thatcher was at a European Summit in Rome, a lone voice opposing the development of a single currency. The next day the challenge to her leadership began and ended with John Major as Prime Minister.

Just over a year later Major signed the Treaty of Maastricht which agreed the creation of the Euro. Britain opted out of joining the Euro and the social chapter which enhanced workers' rights across the rest of Europe.

In 2009 the European Union has 27 member countries. The greatest expansion came after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, which allowed the gradual inclusion of large parts of the old Soviet Union.

So what has this to do with China? We tend to see the EU as a unique European experiment. In many ways it is, but it has also led the way to the development of many other economic communities.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) brings together the US, Canada and Mexico as the worlds largest, most powerful and richest free trade agreements in the world.

The 14 states which make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had their origins in the struggles to end white colonial rule. The organisation has expanded since the 1980s and brings socio-economic, political and security cooperation amongst the membership. In 2008 it expanded to include a free trade zone East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political, economic and cultural union of ten member states. One of the motives for founding ASEAN was to join countries together against the power of communist China.

Numerous think tanks charter China's Comprehensive National Power (CNP), assessing its economic, political and military power against other countries. To reduce fear generated in neighboring countries by China's rising economic, political and military strength the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was established. This, trade, military, border and law enforcement cooperation arrangement has many full and observer members. The SCO brings together countries as diverse as Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The central tenant of the SCO is non-intervention in the affairs of member states. In contrast, American and EU trade agreements come with requirement to meet standards on human rights, probity and transparency. In 2004 China proposed a China ASEAN free trade area to create the equivalent of the EU in Asia with a single currency by 2020.

British political parties have swung for and against our membership of the evolving EU ever since 1956. In an increasingly multilateral world the European elections in 2009 should focus our minds on where today's Britain is best placed to thrive and survive into the future.