Initial contacts between Switzerland and the Chinese Empire were established by traders and missionaries as long ago as the mid-17th century. Trading relations developed at a rapid pace in the second half of the 18th century, leading in 1912 to the opening of a Swiss trading agency in Shanghai. The first official contacts between the two countries were made in 1906. Relations between Switzerland and the Republic of China were codified in a treaty of friendship in 1918, a few years after the fall of the Qing dynasty.

Switzerland recognized the newly-established People’s Republic of China on 17 January 1950, one of the first Western states to do so. It simultaneously withdrew recognition from the Republic of China (Taiwan). Contacts with the People’s Republic were not initially close, owing to internal turmoil in China and the Cold War. The People’s Republic made its first appearance on the international stage when Chinese premier Chou En-lai took part in the Indochina Conference in Geneva in 1954. Bilateral relations between Switzerland and China have developed at a brisk pace since Deng Xiaoping launched his policy of liberalization and reform in 1979.

Today the People’s Republic is one of Switzerland’s most important partners in Asia, as is evidenced by the visits paid to Switzerland by high-ranking Chinese figures and vice versa. The range of subjects on which contacts are maintained has become broader: politics, commerce, migration, science and technology, education, the environment, health, tourism, culture. The two countries have conducted a human-rights dialogue since 1991. China has been Switzerland’s most important trading partner in Asia since 2002. Switzerland is one of the few Western countries to have a positive balance of trade with the People’s Republic. On 25 of September 2007 Switzerland and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the intensification of political consultations and the further deepening of bilateral relations. Close contacts have also been established at the civil-society level – with local authorities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and artists’ groups.