Europe and China are facing more common challenges than they would admit. The past decades have been accompanied by a fantastic ascent: After the destruction of our continent by Nazi rule and world war, the economic power of what is now the EU increased fivefold from $360bn (1960) to $16,229bn. China, formed in 1949, grew from $59bn to an astonishing $10,866bn. The dynamism and opening of world trade in particular made both players strong.