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China

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China's diplomatic, military, economic and technological assertiveness, as well as its growing rivalry with the United States, raise certain apprehensions among its neighbors and Europeans alike.

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Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping are meeting in Paris on Monday at a time of fragile relations between Europe and China.

03 May 2024
Accroche

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to embark on his first European diplomatic tour in five years, starting in France before traveling on to Serbia and Hungary.

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Power and Financial Interdependence

Date de publication
03 May 2024
Accroche

The link between financial self-reliance and geopolitical power has long been debated. The unbalanced Sino-American trade relationship has created asymmetric financial ties which generate potential sources of leverage for both parties and will not quickly disappear. Absent a clarifying major crisis, it will be difficult to definitively determine which party has greater leverage.

Brad SETSER
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Xi Jinping's trip to Europe to center on trade as challenges 'pile up'

03 May 2024
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Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to embark on his first European diplomatic tour in five years, starting in France before traveling on to Serbia and Hungary.

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EU turns up the heat on China as Xi Jinping readies for 3-nation tour, with fiery Paris talks on the cards

03 May 2024
Accroche
  • European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to meet Chinese President Xi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss China ties

  • Xi’s trip comes amid barrage of EU trade and competition tools mostly targeting Chinese firms, including dramatic raids in the Netherlands and Poland

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Xi Jinping’s Visit to France: Stumbling Blocks Pile Up on the Path of Bilateral Cooperation

Date de publication
02 May 2024
Accroche

On May 6 and 7, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic. Emmanuel Macron and Xi Jinping will celebrate Franco-Chinese friendship and the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two countries. It comes at a time when the bilateral relationship is officially perceived as positive on both sides, especially after the French President’s visit to China in April 2023.

The World Through the Lens of Ukraine

Date de publication
08 March 2024
Accroche

This issue of Politique étrangère looks at three conflicts currently unfolding around the world.

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Without a Pact with Mercosur, the EU risks leaving China free in South America

06 February 2024
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The agreement EU-Mercosur It has been a banner of the recent protest by French farmers, who denounced unfair competition on the part of South Americans. However, if Paris closes the door to this pact, the way will be left clear to China, warn politicians and analysts consulted by EFE.

China, technical standardization, and the future of globalization

Date de publication
01 February 2024
Accroche

As the global economy sits at a crossroad between connectivity-driven globalization and strategic decoupling, technical standardization provides a valuable measure of where we are headed.

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Italy's BRI withdrawal shines light on ties ahead of EU-China summit

07 December 2023
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PM Meloni makes move after calculating that membership failed to yield benefits.Italy's decision to pull out of China's Belt and Road Initiative has placed a spotlight on the relationship between the two countries and comes at an awkward time for Beijing, a day ahead of a summit it is holding with Europe.

 

The South versus the West?

Date de publication
05 December 2023
Accroche

In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.

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BRICS: The Uncertainties of an “Alternative” Forum

Date de publication
05 December 2023
Accroche

Initially limited to the financial domain, the term BRICS is gradually becoming established in global economic governance.

Julien VERCUEIL
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Italy's Belt and Road blues highlight hopes for rival India-Europe corridor

02 November 2023
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Ship-to-shore cranes tower high above choppy waters and colorful containers on the Ligurian coast of northern Italy. Sailors coming in to dock are greeted with a smorgasbord of transportation industry names and logos, from Denmark's Maersk to Taiwan's Evergreen. Harder to spot is COSCO, the jewel of China's maritime business, which owns a 40% stake in the cutting-edge Vado Port System at Vado Ligure.

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Racing to the Moon: China's Lunar exploration program in competition with the United States

Date de publication
27 October 2023
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A new Cold War-style race to the moon seems to be in the making. The People’s Republic of China and the United States are both investing in moon exploration with manned lunar scientific stations as the ultimate goal. 

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Towards a New European Trade Strategy in Times of Geopolitical Upheaval: The German Perspective

Date de publication
06 October 2023
Accroche

As one of the most successful trading blocs, the EU sees itself confronted with the erosion of the global rules-based trading system and trade becoming increasingly weaponized.

Klemens KOBER
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Balance of Power in the Taiwan Strait in the Case of a Natural Disaster: Considering an Overlooked Scenario

Date de publication
04 August 2023
Accroche

Scenario planning in the Taiwan Strait that solely assumes a situation without natural disasters or emergencies, where the military and government function as usual, falls short in preparing for more complex contingencies. 

Ryosuke HANADA
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China’s Weaponization of Gallium and Germanium: The Pitfalls of Leveraging Chokepoints

Date de publication
27 July 2023
Accroche

China’s recent announcement of raw material export controls highlights important pitfalls of weaponized interdependence and demonstrates that not all chokepoints are created equal.

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From a China strategy to no strategy at all: Exploring the diversity of European approaches

Date de publication
27 July 2023
Accroche

While there is now new momentum in the relationship between Europe and China, considerable variation remains in approaches across the continent, from clear-cut strategies to more ambiguous policies, complicating a common European position.

Bernhard BARTSCH Claudia WESSLING Marc JULIENNE John SEAMAN

Türkiye’s Stifled Ambitions

Date de publication
07 June 2023
Accroche

As its elections have unfolded this spring, Türkiye has again shown itself to be symptomatic of the times. Across the world, numerous political regimes oscillate between democratic forms of government and an authoritarian concentration of power; impressive periods of growth give way to inflation and recession; and international deregulation gives rise to widespread diplomacy in an effort to juggle a myriad of shifting political loyalties. Faced with the war in Ukraine, Ankara is playing a strong hand by enlarging its areas of presence and intervention. Türkiye is more important to its partners than ever, independent of its eventual domestic trajectory.

Western discourse predicted the advent of Chinese dominance in the very short term, but events have taken a rather different turn. The drivers that enabled the unprecedented growth of recent decades seem to have run out of steam. Moreover, the outcome of Beijing’s economic strategies is still uncertain, in a context shaped primarily by U.S. policies. China’s influence in the future will be considerable, but the direction its rebound will take remains unclear.

For Europeans, the events in Ukraine and the thorny issue of the Sino-American rivalry cannot paper over the other security problems we face: On what common vision of our history and future will we build the Europe of tomorrow? Has drug trafficking already changed the nature of our societies? Can we afford to turn away from instances of destabilization in Africa, from the Horn to the Sahel?

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EU's China policy staying on track despite intensifying debate

Date de publication
10 May 2023
Accroche

While French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to China is viewed by some to be an exercise in stirring the pot, this does not mean that the European boat has veered off course. The EU is used to robust debate among and within member states, and can take this as another opportunity to affirm their stance on China.

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China in the Race to Low Earth Orbit: Perspectives on the Future Internet Constellation Guowang

Date de publication
27 April 2023
Accroche

In April 2021, the Chinese government officially, but rather quietly, established a new state-owned enterprise (SOE) named China SatNet. Its mission: build out China’s “mega-constellation” program for low Earth orbiting internet satellites, known as Guowang (“national network”).

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The World of Yesterday and Tomorrow

Date de publication
30 December 2019
Accroche

In this special issue of Politique étrangère devoted to the proceedings of the conference organized by Ifri on April 10, 2019, in the Grand Amphitheater of the Sorbonne, on the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, discover the speech by Thierry de Montbrial, Founder and Executive Chairman of Ifri.

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China’s Belt & Road and the World: Competing Forms of Globalization

Date de publication
24 April 2019
Accroche

China increasingly sees its flagship foreign policy project as a tool for restructuring global governance and a vector for promoting a new form of globalization.

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France and China's Belt and Road Initiative

Date de publication
08 April 2019
Accroche

Under President Macron, France has staked out a positive but principled position towards China's BRI.

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Between Concentration and Dispersion: A Promising Future for Power Relations

Date de publication
20 March 2019
Accroche

The notion of power has long been a topic of study in international relations. In the coming decade, the evolution of power will be characterized by the dynamics of concentration and dispersion. On the one hand, the global system will be marked by the clash of two superpowers, the United States and China. On the other hand, capacity for individual action will proliferate through information and communication technologies.

Xi Jinping’s Institutional Reforms: Environment over Energy?

Date de publication
02 October 2018
Accroche

During its two sessions (lianghui) in March 2018, the National People’s Congress (NPC) announced China’s most important institutional reforms in the last 30 years. These changes occurred right after Xi Jinping consolidated his power and at a time when stakeholders working in the energy field were expecting more clarity on policy orientations. 

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Chinese Investment in Europe. A Country-Level Approach

Date de publication
14 December 2017
Accroche

Chinese investments in Europe have surged in recent years, becoming both a source of hope and growing concern across the continent.

John SEAMAN Mikko HUOTARI Miguel OTERO-IGLESIAS
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Energy Relations between Russia and China: Playing Chess with the Dragon

Date de publication
01 August 2016
Accroche

Post-sanctions Russia-China energy relations: what expectations?

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Mapping Europe-China Relations: A Bottom-Up Approach. A Report of the European Think-tank Network on China ETNC, October 2015

Date de publication
12 November 2015
Accroche

As China’s rise continues to shape and shake the course of international affairs, and Europe enters a new chapter in its collective history, Europe-China relations are becoming more relevant, but also much more complex.

Mikko HUOTARI Miguel OTERO-IGLESIAS John SEAMAN Alice EKMAN

Emerging Markets and Migration Policy: China

Date de publication
01 July 2014
Accroche

China’s development has given rise to massive flows of both domestic migration and international emigration.

Frank N. PIEKE

The Distinctive Features of China's Middle Classes

Date de publication
01 June 2014
Accroche

This study seeks to lay the foundations for a better understanding of the Chinese middle classes. It goes beyond the traditional classification by revenue and identifies the distinctive features of China’s middle classes by taking into account relevant historical events, current sociopolitical and economic contexts, and key expectations of the population.

China's Growing Natural Gas Insecurity and the Potential of Chinese Shale Gas

Date de publication
22 April 2013
Accroche

China is poised for a dramatic increase in its demand for natural gas. As total energy demand has risen to record levels in the last five years, China has found itself in an increasingly difficult bind: the social and environmental burden from coal is becoming too heavy to bear and a growing dependence on foreign oil is becoming strategically more risky with the passage of time. 

China's Two-Track Foreign Policy: From Ambiguous to Clear-Cut Positions

Date de publication
16 December 2012
Accroche

This analysis examines the current ambiguities, priorities and approaches of Chinese foreign policy from a practitioner’s perspective, taking into account experiences of Beijing-based diplomats (interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012), in addition to recent Chinese foreign policy positions and official communications.
It leads to the following conclusions:

China and Cleaner Coal: A marriage of necessity destined for failure?

Date de publication
25 April 2012
Accroche

For China, coal is a crucial source of abundant, indigenous and affordable energy and is a pillar of economic and social stability. From a logic of energy security, and because the industry itself maintains a formidable political presence through the sheer fact of its history and size, this resource will continue to play a central role in the country’s energy mix. But in order to respond to the growing need to reduce the burden of coal use on the environment and the Chinese population, and to prevent catastrophic climate change, both Chinese leaders and the industry itself have faced a certain reality - coal must become cleaner.

New Economic Development Opportunities for Taiwan in the Post-ECFA Era

Date de publication
15 April 2012
Accroche

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the new opportunities for Taiwan’s ongoing economic development in the era following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China. 

Da-Nien LIU Hui-Tzu SHIH

Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks

Date de publication
20 March 2012
Accroche

Deepening their partnership, Ifri and the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) are launching a series of op-eds, written both by Ifri and CIGS experts. This new series aims at providing the European and Asian public with original and different visions on the rapidly evolving international affairs.

The Expanding Chinese Footprint in Latin America: New Challenges for China, and Dilemmas for the US

Date de publication
20 February 2012
Accroche

The physical presence of China in Latin America is entering a phase of significant expansion, as the logical consequence of the rapid growth over the past decade of its trade, investment, and infrastructure for doing business in the region.

Evan ELLIS

Doors Wide Shut? An Update on FDI Regulations in China

Date de publication
30 January 2012
Accroche

The fears of a rise in economic nationalism in China have been fueled by a number of recent moves, such as changes in the law on indigenous innovation or the enactment of a national security review (NSR) regulation for M&As by foreign enterprises. The objective of the current paper is twofold: First is to provide an update on the investment environment in China in order to determine whether or not these provisions reflect a move in the direction of more protectionism, and second is to suggest ways for European countries to level the playing field for their firms wishing to invest in China.

Internet Companies in China: Dancing between the Party Line and the Bottom Line

Date de publication
29 January 2012
Accroche

With over 500 million Internet users and 900 million mobile-phone subscribers by mid-2011, the Chinese Internet is an enormous market that has produced the spectacular rise of many Chinese Internet companies and attracted substantial foreign investment. This paper argues that, despite a great degree of liberalization of its market over the past 15 years, the Chinese Internet remains authoritarian in nature. Not only did the central government actively shape the infrastructure and rules of China's information superhighways, but recently it has also vigorously built state-controlled Internet companies, including a national search engine.

Min JIANG

Toward Higher Household Consumption? An Up-to-Date Analysis of China's Economic Transition

Date de publication
13 July 2011
Accroche

For more than two decades, China's economy has been growing at an average rate of close to 10 percent. As a result of this stellar performance, China ascended to the rank of the world's second largest economy in 2010, surpassing Japan.

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European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC)
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The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the policy-oriented study of Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and European countries as well as China and the EU. It facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers with a view to deepening the understanding within the European policy and research community and the broader public of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role is likely to impact the future of Europe. The network’s discussions and analyses take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, accounting for the various aspects of bilateral relations between European countries and China, and the points of convergence and divergence among EU member states in order to examine EU-China relations in a realistic and comprehensive way. The views presented in ETNC reports are the sole responsibility of the signed authors and do not in any way represent the views of all members of the ETNC, its participating institutions, nor the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.

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Asia Map
Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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