We are preparing calls for eight exciting new STSMs which should be carried out by the fall of 2022. Applications will be open soon - follow our website for the announcement!

Read about the experiences of previous STSM grantees

See the blogs on our website:

Oyuna Baldakova (2022, January 17): Chinese State Capital In Eurasia: Theory and Practice 

Tim Rühlig & Jan-Peter Kleinhans (2021, December 25): Should The EU be concerned about high-tech research collaboration with China? Lessons from the case of semiconductors 

Yue Wang (2021, December 19): Condemned to one another: Why the EU and China’s foreign direct investment is crucial to economic recovery in the post-pandemic era 

Mikkel R. Mouritzen, Andrea Braun Střelcová, & Su Yun Woo (2021, November 8): Between cooperation and containment: A considered approach to Europe-China Engagement in Higher Education & Research 

Miljan Radunović, Güldem Karamustafa & Anna Lupina-Wegener (2021, November 1): Bridging the gaps on the road to success: The case of CRBC in the Western Balkans 

Anabela Santiago (2021, October 10): Mapping of Chinese Investments in Europe’s Agrifood Sector

Imogen Liu (2021, February 10): Hierarchies of Labour
Allocating Chinese State Capital on Public Infrastructure Projects in Serbia 

Fanni Beck (2021, August 30):Chinese Golden Visa Migrants in Lisbon and Budapest 

And also:

Miljan Radunovic (2021): Understanding the Belt and Road Initiative in the Western Balkans

Miljan Radunovic (2021): Cost overruns in Belt and Road Initiative projects: Lessons from the Western Balkans

Imogen Liu (2020, December 21):  Sino State Capital and the Strengthening of Serbian Stabilitocracy

Call for Rapid Short Term Scientific Missions 

In Grant Period 3, we will have new opportunities for Rapid STSMs. Rapid STSMs are short duration research visits to establish or deepen research collaboration between the STSM applicant and the host. They typically take place during several research-intensive days at the host institution (max. duration 5 days). Read the full call for more details and instructions how to apply!

CHERN and the Finnish University Network for Asian Studies organized a Webinar on Digital China Research in Social Sciences as part of the Training School that CHERN will organize this year.

Working Group Activities

Webinars on China’s digital power and its implications

Working Group 2 (High-technology and innovation) continues to hold its monthly webinar series. The activities focus on China’s digital power and its implications for the EU, foreign direct investment and green innovation as well as methodological issues around new technologies such as AI.

In January, Agnieszka McCaleb & Anna Maria Dzienis (Warsaw School of Economic) presented their research - Motives behind Sino-Japanese strategic alliances in new energy vehicles sector in the age of Belt and Road Initiative.

If you are interested in presenting your paper or joining the webinar series, please send an email to tim.ruhlig@ui.se!

Roundtable announcement: Navigating EU-China relations in the democracy-autocracy binary

Working Groups 4 (Public diplomacy and knowledge production​) and 5 (Labour and Migration), together with CEU, will jointly organize a roundtable on 'Navigating EU-China relations in the democracy-autocracy binary'. 

Time: 28th March 14:00 - 15:30 CET, online, public.
Registration t.b.a.

Panelists: Zhang Yongjin (University of Bristol), Gudrun Wacker (German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin) and Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova (Riga Stradins University).

Discussants: Pál Nyíri (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Naná de Graaff (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

‌Recent publications by CHERN members

Abels, S. (2021). Zum Dialog mit China als globalem Akteur in Wissenschaft und Technologie (On Dialogue with China as a Global Player in Science and Technology). In Chinas Rolle in einer Neuen Weltordnung (China's Role in a New World Order). Universität Hohenheim.

Abels, S., Becker, T. & Mahltig, P. (Eds.) (2021). DVCS Yearbook 2019.Mobility in China, German Association of China Studies, DVCS.

Amendolagine, V., Fu, X., & Rabellotti, R. Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments and Innovation. The Oxford Handbook of China Innovation.

Andžāns, M., Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021) The COVID-19 Pandemic and Latvia–Russia Relations: Landscape for Desecuritization or Further Securitization? MDPI Social Sciences.

Barker, T., Mölling, C., Vinke, K. Rühlig, T., Dinkel, S. & Stamm, L. (2021) A NEW FOREIGN POLICY FOR GERMANY? DGAP.

Beraha, I., & Jovičić, E. (2021). Uticaj pandemije COVID-19 na spoljnotrgovinsku razmenu između Kine i zemalja Zapadnog Balkana (Impact of the COVID-19 pandemy on the trade flows between China and the Western Balkan countries).

Beraha. I., Jovičić, E. (2021). Uticaj pandemije COVID-19 na spoljnotrgovinsku razmenu između Kine i zemalja Zapadnog Balkana (Impact of the COVID-19 pandemy on the trade flows between China and the Western Balkan countries). Makroekonomska stabilnost i unapređenje konkurentnosti zemalja Zapadnog Balkana, pp. 107-123

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. Chapter 2: NATO and China Navigating the Challenges. - NATO 2030: Towards a New Strategic Concept and Beyond (Eds. Jason Blessing, Katherine Kjellström Elgin, Nele Marianne Ewers-Peters),Washington, DC: Foreign Policy Institute/Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins University SAIS, 2021, pp.47-66.

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021). China opts for optimism in 2021 Russian security strategy reading. Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS).

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U. A. (2021). The Baltic CAI challenge: reconciling Transatlanticism with EU solidarity. Asia Europe Journal, 1-5.

Berzina-Cerenkova, U. A. (2021). The Baltic Resilience to China's" Divide and Rule". Lex Portus, 7, 11.

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021). A Baltic View on Transatlantic Tech Relations Towards China. RUSI Transatlantic Dialogue on China.  

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021). “Go with the Devil You Don’t Know”? Latvians Still Believe in Economic Cooperation with China. The Baltic Bulletin. Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia.   

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021).  Latvia--no Place for Ambiguity. In Karásková, I. (ed.) Huawei in Central and Eastern Europe: Trends and Forecast, Czech Republic, Association for International Affairs (AMO), Prague.  

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021). Towards a NATO China Strategy. #NATO2030 Series, N.2, International Centre for Defence and Security, Tallinn: 

Bērziņa-Čerenkova, U.A. (2021). Latvia’s Transatlanticism and the Risks of the PRC's Economic Presence: a Dilemma That Does Not Exist. Latvian Foreign and Security Policy Yearbook, Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs.

Braun Střelcová, A. (2021). Growing Up and Going Global: Chinese Universities in the Belt and Road Initiative. Made in China, 6, 158-163.

Brennan, L. (2021, December 17). China fares best when it embraces the world. Financial Times. 

Entwistle, P., Henderson, J., Knight, A., Evans, H. & Toale, J. (2021). China's Place in a Progressive British Foreign Policy. Labour Foreign Policy Group, UK Labour Party, 2021.

Fägersten, B. & Rühlig, T. (2021). Infrastructure Development and Geoeconomic Competition: A Framework for Analysis. In Borchert, Heiko/Strobl, Johann (eds.). Storms Ahead. The Future Geoeconomic World Order. Vienna: Raiffeisen Bank International, pp. 156-171.

Freeman, D. (2021). The EU and China: policy perceptions of economic cooperation and competition. Asia Europe Journal, 1-20.

Gries, P. & Turcsanyi, R. (2021). Chinese Pride and European Prejudice: How Growing Resentment of China Cools Feelings toward Chinese in Europe, Asian Survey 61 (5): 742–766.

Jovičić, E., Minović, J. (2021). Bilateral Trade Relations Between China and CEE Countries: A Gravity Model Approach, Global economic trends - challenges and opportunities: book of abstracts, pp.75-78 Abels, S. (2021). Media Accountability in China. The Global Handbook of Media Accountability (GLOHOMA), Routledge International Handbooks Series.

Kirkulak-Uludag, B. (2022). China’s ambition in promoting green finance for the Belt and Road Initiative. In Leandro, F., Martínez Galan, E. &  Martínez, E. (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of globalization with Chinese characteristics: the case of the Belt and Road Initiative. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Kirkulak-Uludag, B., & Safarzadeh, O. (2021). Exploring shock and volatility transmission between oil and Chinese industrial raw materials. Resources Policy, 70, 101974.

Levy, K. & Révész, Á. (2021). No Common Ground: A Spatial-Relational Analysis of EU-China Relations. Journal Of Chinese Political Science.

Levy, K. (2021, June 16). Die deutsche China-Forschung darf sich nicht isolieren. China.table

Levy, K., Ma, Q-Y. & Zimmer, A. (Eds.) (2021). 中国与德国政治和做服务观察 (Observation on the Cooperation between Government and Social Organizations in Providing Social Services in China and Germany), Beijing: National Administration Press.  

Levy, K., Zimmer, A., & Ma, Q. (Eds.). (2021). Still a Century of Corporatism?: Models of State-Society Cooperation in China and Germany (Vol. 4). Nomos Verlag.

Macheda, F., & Nadalini, R. (2021). China’s Escape from the Peripheral Condition: A Success Story?. Review of Radical Political Economics, 04866134211035493.

Matkovic, A. (2021). Unfree Labor, from Hanoi to Belgrade: Chinese investment and Labor Dispatch in the Case of 750 Workers from Vietnam.

Men, J., Schunz, S., & Freeman, D. (Eds.). (2019). The Evolving Relationship Between China, the EU and the USA: A New Global Order?. Routledge.

Mochtak, M. & Turcsanyi, R. (2021). Studying Chinese Foreign Policy Narratives: Introducing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Conferences Corpus. Journal Of Chinese Political Science 26, 743–761.

Révész, Á. (2021). A koronavírus értelmezési kerete a kínai belföldi médiában – és kínai elképzelések egy új világrendről (The framing of Coronavirus in Chinese domestic media – and what it reveals about China’s visions of a new world order). Médiakutató, 22(2), 7-25.

Révész, Á. (2021). The framing of Coronavirus in Chinese domestic media – and what it reveals about China’s visions of a new world order. In Chinas Rolle in einer neuen Weltordnung (China’s Role in a New World Order). Universität Hohenheim.

Révész, Á. (2021). They do but jest? Theater in Different Cultural Ecosystems. In Michael Steppat and Steve J. Kulich (Eds.) Literature and Interculturality (II). Intercultural Research Vol. 10. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, pp. 115-145.

Rogers, S. (2022). Illiberal capitalist development: Chinese state-owned capital investment in Serbia. Contemporary Politics, 1-18.

Rühlig, T. (2021, November 11). No harm, but how much good for the EU? Assessing the CAI's standardisation clause. Reinhard Bütikofer. Brussels: Greens/EFA.

Rühlig, T. (2021, September 20): Aktionsplan China und Außenpolitik. Was Deutschland tun muss, um im Systemwettbewerb mit China zu bestehen. In Schwarzer, Daniela/Mölling, Christian (eds.). Smarte Souveränität. Zehn Aktionspläne für die künftige Bundesregierung. Berlin: DGAP, pp. 47-56.

Rühlig, T. (2021. December 2): The Shape of Things to Come: The Race to Control Technical Standardisation. Beijing/Stockholm: European Union Chamber of Commerce in China/The Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Rühlig, T. (2022, January 6). A SOVEREIGN EUROPE ... AND CHINA, DGAP.

Rühlig, T. (2022, January/February). Weniger abhängig von China?, Internationale Politik January/February 2022, pp. 36-38.

Rühlig, T. N., & ten Brink, T. (2021). The Externalization of China's Technical Standardization Approach. Development and Change, 52(5), 1196-1221.

Salát, G. (2020). An Authoritarian Advance or Creating Room for Manoeuvre? The Case of Hungary’s China Policy. Stosunki Międzynarodowe, 56(2), 125-143.

Sattich, T., Freeman, D., Scholten, D., & Yan, S. (2021). Renewable energy in EU-China relations: Policy interdependence and its geopolitical implications. Energy Policy, 156, 112456.

Stepan, M. (2021). [Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V.] (2021, August 13) Die Großmacht China und die Europäische Union: Kultur als Soft power oder Brückenbauer (Super Power China and the European Union: Culture as soft power or instrument to build bridges). Youtube.

Stepan, M., & Frenzel, A. (2021). Wege zu mehr China-Kompetenz  (Pathways to improve China Competence). In China-Kompetenz in Deutschland und Deutschland-Kompetenz in China (pp. 119-145). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.

Summers, T., Chan, H. M., Gries, P. & Turcsanyi, R. (2021). Worsening British views of China in 2020: evidence from public opinion, parliament, and the media. Asia Europe Journal.

Szunomar, Á. (2021, December 21).  Budapest–Belgrade Railway. The People’s Map of Global China.

Tsimonis, K. (2021). The Chinese Communist Youth League: Juniority and Responsiveness in a Party Youth Organization. (China: From Revolution to Reform). Amsterdam University Press.

Varriale, R., & Genovese, L. (2021). Underground Built Heritage (UBH) as Valuable Resource in China, Japan and Italy. Heritage, 4(4), 3208-3237.

Wang, Y., & Xu, L.L. (2022). Assessing China’s Securitization of Arctic Climate Change and Energy. In Kirchner, S. (Ed.) Security and Technology in Arctic Governance. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Williams, A. (2021, July 20). The Birth of the Chinese Communist Party, spiked-online.

Williams, A. (2021, November 10). President Xi is exploiting #MeToo, UnHerd.

Williams, A. (2022). China’s Eco Dreams and Green Reality. In Zhang, F. & Wu, F. (eds.) China's urban environmental governance, Edward Elgar.

Williams, A. (2022). The Emerging City: Malawi and China. In Powell, M. (ed.) The Climate City, Wiley.

Williams, A. (2022). Suzhou's Urban Fringe. In Quazi, Z. (ed.) Urbanism(s) at Borders, Routledge.

Yin, W., Kirkulak-Uludag, B., & Matthews, K. (2020). Financialization, religion, and social trust in rural China. Plos one, 15(10), e0240114.

Yin, W., Zhu, Z., Kirkulak-Uludag, B., & Zhu, Y. (2021). The determinants of green credit and its impact on the performance of Chinese banks. Journal of Cleaner Production, 286, 124991.

Zhang, C. & Jones, C. (2021, October 13). What China’s approach to COVID tells us about its Human Security approach? SOAS China Institute.

Zhang, C. (2022). Human Security in China: A Post-Pandemic State, Palgrave Macmillan.

Zoubir, Y. H., & Tran, E. (2021). China’s Health Silk Road in the Middle East and North Africa Amidst COVID-19 and a Contested World Order. Journal of Contemporary China, 1-16.

‌Activities by CHERN members

Call for Funded Case Studies: China’s Digital Expansion in the Global South

CHERN members Nicholas Jepson and Seth Schindler (with their collogues) are issuing a call for funded case studies: analyses of China’s digital expansion into other low-/middle-income countries, with a particular interest in implications for actors in those countries. Although the title is 'China's digital expansion in the global south' the call is open for case studies on any country on the OECD DAC list (which includes several European countries).

You can send in your proposal of 500-1,000 words by Friday 18 Feb 2022. Those selected will be published as working papers, presented at an international workshop, and build an agenda and network for future research.  We are also seeking opportunities to publish the collection as a journal special issue.  A payment of GBP £2,000 per case will be made.

For further details on the background, required case study, proposal format, and timetable, see the main call document. You can find the full call here. 

Call for Papers: The rise of China and the re-scaling of global development politics

Giles Mohan and Indrajit Roy (Working Group 1 members) are organising a panel at the Development Studies Association Annual conference on 6-8 July 2022. As part of the conference’s theme of Just sustainable futures in an urbanising and mobile world the panel is entitled The rise of China and the re-scaling of global development politics. The call for papers (full text below) is now open and closes on 4th March.

Putative discourses around a ‘new cold war’ posit a politics of scale that is based on extant imaginaries of super-power rivalry and ‘spheres of influence’, and which ultimately conclude that the liberal international order, which provides the normative scaffolding for global development, is under threat from China and other erstwhile developing countries. Yet, if we consider new mobilities of capital, people, and knowledge then the reality on the ground suggests a more complex, multi-scalar politics of development. These emerging dynamics force us to radically re-orient the who, what, where and how of global development, which break away from crude ‘North-South’ geographies to focus on interconnected scales. Development studies’ rootedness in political-economy means we retain a critical focus on who benefits and who loses from these emergent processes so that questions of exclusion and peripheralization, and their opposites, are central.

This paper-based panel seeks to assemble empirically-informed theorisations of global development politics in the current conjuncture and to chart emergent trajectories. We are particularly interested in hearing from early career scholars and PhD students, as well as scholars based outside Western Europe and North America. In keeping with the conference’s methodology, participants will ideally deliver a video with slides three weeks before the session and the discussant will start with a provocation before opening up for discussion. The session would be edited into a video podcast co-hosted by the Open University and University of York.

Click here for more details of the conference. If you have any questions before submitting your paper proposal, please contact Giles Mohan or Indrajit Roy.

The Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” Award for Duncan Freeman

A publication by Duncan Freeman (WG 4 member) was recently awarded The Choice “Outstanding Academic Title” Award for 2021 by the American Library Association. The award was given for his book: Men, J., Schunz, S., & Freeman, D. (Eds.). (2019). The Evolving Relationship Between China, the EU and the USA: A New Global Order? Congratulations Duncan!