webversion | unsubscribe | update profile

‌

China-in-Europe 

‌

Imagined in 2017, gestated in 2018 and launched in 2019, the China in Europe Research Network has emerged as a pre-eminent - and the largest - grouping of researchers studying China’s multilevel and multifaceted engagements with Europe. From its beginnings as an initiative of scholars at the University of Bristol and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, thanks to the diverse activities enabled by COST funding, CHERN has grown to encompass 300+ researchers from both academy and think-tanks and from more than 40 countries across Europe and beyond. Its scientific activities are organised via five working groups (strategic sectors and infrastructure, technology and innovation, finance and real estate, public diplomacy and knowledge production, migration and labour), and attention is paid to the economic, social, political and geopolitical dimensions of China’s involvements in all of them. This latter concern has progressively become more important as, during CHERN’s lifetime, the landscape has changed and the ‘security turn’ and increased US-China rivalry have redrafted Europe- China relations and switched the pendulum from seeing China more as partner to increasingly perceiving it as a systemic rival.

Reaching beyond its original remit - and evolving into a unique and diverse trans-disciplinary research community - CHERN has studied the China-in-Europe phenomenon with an eye on the need to grasp not merely the particularities of each case (eg railway and highway construction in Eastern Europe, competition in semiconductor technologies, media narratives and perceptions of China, ‘golden visa’ migration and housing market impacts), but also their interaction and combined impacts and consequences. Additionally, CHERN has pro-actively encouraged the participation of early career scholars in its activities, and through its Training Schools, has helped the emergence of a new generation of scholars focussed on the analysis of global China. Through its Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM), and the opportunities it has provided for in-person and virtual networking, CHERN has also encouraged the exploration of new research questions (and the further explorations of existing ones) and, by so doing, helped pave the way for research grant applications.

Via its various activities – including numerous workshops and conferences – CHERN has helped the emergence of manifold academic publications (including three journal special issues two edited volumes and one journal special section) as well as policy briefs, reports, research blogs, newsletters and recorded lectures. Additionally, some Working Groups have been very successful at reaching out and involving policy makers and advising national governments, as well as the EU, on key challenges that arise from China’s European engagements.

As well as its undoubted success as a research network, and in spite of the disruptions inflicted by Covid, CHERN has also been very much a social success. Through its conferences (Lisbon 2020, Paris 2022, Amsterdam 2023) and workshops (e.g. in Olomouc, Brussels, Bochum, Ljubljana, Potsdam, London) new friendships have been created and out of some of these, new research initiatives have emerged.

As CHERN has reached the end of the first phase of its operation, we have significant debts of gratitude that needed to be recorded. These include our fellow members of the Core Group whose involvement was a sine qua non for CHERN’s success: Working Group Leaders, Ágnes Szunomár, Tim Rühlig, Nicholas Jepson, Agota Revesz and Pál Nyíri; Communications Coordinator, Jelena Gledić ; STSM Coordinator, Martina Bofulin; Training School Coordinator, Anna Lupina-Wegener; and Grant Holder Manager, Alexandra Filius. Additionally, we wish to thank the members of CHERN’s Management Committee (from 35 countries) for their support and advice; and, importantly, COST for awarding us the grant (as Action 18215) without which many of our activities would have been impossible and VU Amsterdam for being the host institution during all these years and beyond. A special word of thanks goes to Lynda Hartman for her inspirational mentorship of the Action as COST Science Committee member and Rossella Magli, our ever supportive and knowledgeable COST Science Officer. Last, but by no means least, we wish to thank the many colleagues who have participated in our activities: some 700+ of you, in addition to our ‘regular’ members.

While CHERN’s first phase has ended, we are now transitioning to its second one. We hope that CHERN 2.0 will be supported by new sources of grant income and these are actively being sought. Details will be published on the website and through our regular communication channels once we have further information. In the meantime, in this transitional phase, CHERN activities (online WG meetings etc) will continue as before. Consequently, we encourage and welcome your continued participation and support. Please continue to check the website for these activities (www.china-in-europe.net), as well as the emails that you will receive.

Jeffrey Henderson (CHERN Vice Chair) and Nana de Graaff (CHERN Chair)

‌

‌

The China in Europe Research Network has set out to facilitate the exchange among researchers, journalists, and policymakers. In this new initiative, we identify significant events and provide the latter two groups with relevant insights from researchers from our network. We keep the briefings short and practical and leave it open to you whether you want to pursue a certain topic further on a one-on-one basis.

‌

CHERN Online Briefing – The China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement

‌

In the first event, we deal with the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which recently entered nto force. This event provided a brief data-driven insight into various research around topics related to the China-Serbia FTA and its possible impact in Serbia and the EU.

CHERN Online Briefing – Risks and Opportunities in Academic and Research Collaboration

‌

SAVE THE DATE: September 13, 11:00-11:45 CET

In the second CHERN Online Briefing we will focus on Risks and Opportunities in Academic and Research Collaboration. The start of the academic year all over Europe provides an opportunity to give a brief data-driven insight into this hot topic. The Briefing will be moderated by WG 4 leader Agota Revesz.

‌

‌

Management Committee (MC) meeting

CHERN held its last MC meeting on April 23, 2024. The Core Group presented the MC an overview of all that has been achieved, as well as future plans.

‌

“Chinese Work” In European Agriculture: Money, People And Materials

‌

The workshop titled “Chinese Work in European Agriculture: Money, People and Materials” was held on March 15, 2024, at the Faculty of Arts, Palacky University in Olomouc (UP), Czech Republic. The event was jointly organized by the China Europe Research Network (CHERN), COST Action, and Department of Asian Studies, UP. It brought together renowned and young scholars to discuss the current development of Chinese presence in agriculture in Europe and the world. The workshop aimed to identify important research gaps and methodological approaches that go beyond the narrow but still dominant discourse on “Chinese land grabbing”.

‌

EU Responses to Chinese Investments in European Strategic Sectors

Group_photo_edited_MGL_18.04.2024-1024x576

‌

The workshop titled “EU Responses to Chinese Investments in European Strategic Sectors” was conducted on April 11-12, 2024, at the Faculty of East Asian Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), Germany. This event was jointly organised by WG 1 of the China Europe Research Network (CHERN), COST Action, and the Centre for EU-Asia Connectivity (CEAC), a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. It convened a distinguished group of researchers to deliberate on current developments concerning Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in European critical infrastructure.

‌

‌

The Epistemic ‘Atmospherics’ of China-in-Paris and How Those Shape the China-in-Europe Estimates

by Zane Šime (CHERN Training School Trainee)

My participation in the 2024 CHERN Training School “Making results count: Translating independent China research into actionable recommendations” deserves a broader contextualisation. Prior to arriving near the SKEMAPOLIS headquarters in Suresnes where the Training School took place, the public transport connection from the Charle de Gaulle Airport offered a convenient option to visit…

Read further

‌

Mapping Media Stakeholders: Observations on European Media Focus on China

By: Mare Ushkovska (CHERN VMG Grantee)

The phrase “information is power” has a marked resonance in today’s world, particularly in international relations. Media have evolved into a diplomatic instrument for nations’ soft power and shaping of narratives. In recent years, Chinese media has steadily increased its presence in Europe, such as the Xinhua News Agency opening a European regional office in Brussels in 2004...

Read further

‌

‌Recent publications by CHERN members

‌

Reverse Dependency: Making Europe’s Digital Technological Strengths Indispensable to China – new publication

A new report of the European research consortium Digital Power China, edited by CHERN Working Group 2 (High-technology and innovation) coordinator Tim Rühlig and supported through CHERN, has been published. The report uses 12 case studies to analyse reverse dependencies of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the European Union and the United Kingdom.

‌

Al-Sudairi, M., Hai, J., & Alahmad, K. (2023). How Saudi Arabia bent China to its technoscientific ambitions. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Asia Society Policy Institute. (2023, April). Europe's China challenge: The narrow path for France, Germany and the EU.

Berzina-Cerenkova, U. (Ed.). (2023). Discourse, rhetoric and shifting political behaviour in China. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Discourse-Rhetoric-and-Shifting-Political-Behaviour-in-China/Berzina-Cerenkova/p/book/9781032537559

Brennan, L. (2023, June 5). China is becoming more hostile to foreign groups. Financial Times.

Brown, K. (2023). China Incorporated: The Politics of a World where China is Number One. Bloomsbury Publishing. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/china-incorporated-9781350267244/

Brugner, P., Szüdi, G., Demir, B. U., Weiss, G., et al. (2023). Report on the results of the research cluster on EU-China research cooperation (co-patent/co-publication analysis), D1.1. ReConnect China.

Cainey, A., & Prange, C. (2023). Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business. Agenda Publishing.

Cao, N., & Lin, L. (2024). Contextualizing transnational Chinese Christianity: A relational approach. Religions, 15(4), 510. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040510

Chen, C. (2024). Situated researcher: A critical autoethnography on migrant researcher’s mobility, positionality, and agency. Belgeo: Belgian Journal of Geography, 2023(4). https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.66217

Conlé, M. (2024, March 21). Guangdong’s new R&D institutes: China’s regional tool for innovation and technology transfer. Policy Brief, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and MERICS. https://ucigcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Conle-Chinas-New-RD-Institutes-02.26.24.pdf

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). Are you de-risking? China US Focus. Retrieved from https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/are-you-de-risking

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). Could India rise amid China’s dependence and hegemony? China US Focus. Retrieved from https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/could-india-rise-amid-chinas-dependence-and-hegemony

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). Europe’s deliberative journey to crafting the next China policy. China US Focus. Retrieved from https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/europes-deliberative-journey-to-crafting-the-next-china-policy

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). How cyberfrontiers and geopolitical storms are shaping the future of digital dominance. Pandaily. Retrieved from https://pandaily.com/how-cyberfrontiers-and-geopolitical-storms-are-shaping-the-future-of-digital-dominance/

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). Prioritizing Germany and France: China’s strategic focus in Europe. China US Focus. Retrieved from https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/prioritizing-germany-and-france-chinas-strategic-focus-in-europe

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S. (2023). Unraveling the European legal labyrinth of technology weaponization in cyberspace. Lexology. Retrieved from https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a2947405-9f1f-43e8-b925-1f502edd5e2a

Contin Trillo-Figueroa, S., & Downes, J. F. (2023). The EU’s journey into an uncertain future. CERSP. Retrieved from https://cersp.org/the-eus-journey-into-an-uncertain-future/

Duggan, N., & Szunomár, Á. (2024). Chinese investments and involvement in strategic sectors and infrastructure development across Europe: Europe's hybrid relationship with China beyond the BRI—Introduction to the special issue. Asian Perspective, 48(1), 1-11. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/919879

Ergenc, C. (2023). Public participation in China’s local governance. In C. Ergenc & D. S. G. Goodman (Eds.), The Handbook on Local Government and Politics in China. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Ergenc, C. (2023). The hegemonic battle over rights discourses in China: The state and society perspectives. In A. Talmacs & R. Peng (Eds.), Orchestrated Thinking in Contemporary China. Routledge.

Ergenc, C., & Gocer, D. (2023, May 5). China’s response to Türkiye’s volatile authoritarianism. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/05/05/china-s-response-to-t-rkiye-s-volatile-authoritarianism-pub-89690

Ergenc, C., & Goodman, D. S. G. (Eds.). (2023). The Handbook on Local Government and Politics in China. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Ergenc, C., & Yu, C. (2024). Multiscalar industrial strategies and variegated foreign investment in China. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

Ferchen, M., & Mattlin, M. (2023). Five modes of China's economic statecraft: Rethinking Chinese economic statecraft. Pacific Review, 36(5), 978-1004. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2023.2200029

Fornes, G., & Altamira, M. (2023). Understanding Digitalization, Technology, and International Business: How technology is shaping markets and value creation across borders. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gledić, J. (2024). Analysing drivers of Serbian public opinion on China: The “Iron Friendship” in global and local contexts. The Review of International Affairs, 75(1190), 5-28. https://thereviewofinternationalaffairs.rs/wp-content/uploads/RI/2024/1190/RI-2024-1190-article-1.pdf

Gündoğan, I. (2024). Political steering theory in the era of ‘top-level design’: The unexpected implications of campus football in Xi Jinping’s China. Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture, 1-22.

Hu, R. (2024). Assembling China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Discourse, institution, and materials. International Political Sociology, 18(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae002

Huppenbauer, N. (2023). Connectivity, centrality, and adaptation: The coproduction of political space in China’s standardization of autonomous driving technologies. Global Media and China, 8(3), 414-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364231198289

Jovičić, E., & Marjanović, D. (2024). The contemporary development of Serbia-China and Serbia-Russia relations: Is this the opportune moment for economic cooperation expansion? The Review of International Affairs, 75(1190), 109-137. https://doi.org/10.18485/iipe_ria.2024.75.1190.5

Kaufmann, L. (2023). Switzerland: The People's Map of Global China country profile. In I. Franceschini, C. K. Lee, N. Loubere, & H. Zhang (Eds.), The People's Map of Global China. https://thepeoplesmap.net/country/switzerland/

Kaufmann, L. (2024). Prefiguring China's digital silk road to Europe: Connecting Switzerland. In R. Silvey & E. Schatz (Eds.), Seeing the Belt and Road Initiative: The Politics of (In)Visibility. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-257849

Li, J., Burgess, G., & Sielker, F. (2023). Political mobilisation and institutional layering in urban regeneration: Transformation of land redevelopment governance in China. Cities, 141, 104508.

Mattlin, M., & Rajavuori, M. (2023). Changing causal narratives and risk perceptions on foreign investment: The riskification of Chinese investments in the Nordic region. East Asia, 40(3), 243-263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-023-09397-6

Mattlin, M., Breslin, S., Sinkkonen, E., Kauppila, L., Cappelin, B., Söderström, I., & Ferchen, M. (2023). Enhancing small state preparedness: Risks of foreign ownership, supply disruptions and technological dependencies (FIIA Report 74). Helsinki: The Finnish Institute of International Affairs. https://www.fiia.fi/en/publication/enhancing-small-state-preparedness

Negro, G. (2023). China’s perspective on internet governance: A more integrated role in the global discussion? Journal of Chinese Political Science, 28(1), 105-125.

Qiao-Franco, G. (2024). An emergent community of cyber sovereignty: The reproduction of boundaries? Global Studies Quarterly, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksad077

Qiao-Franco, G., & Javadi, M. (2024). Symposium on military AI and the law of armed conflict: Navigating the governance of dual-use artificial intelligence technologies in times of geopolitical rivalries. Opinio Juris in Comparatione.

Qiao-Franco, G., & Zhu, R. (2024). China’s artificial intelligence ethics: Policy development in an emergent community of practice. Journal of Contemporary China, 33(146). https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2153016

Roy, I., Eckhardt, J., Stroikos, D., & Davidescu, S. (Eds.). (2024). Rising Power, Limited Influence: The Politics of Chinese Investments in Europe and the Liberal International Order. Oxford University Press. Open Access: https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/academic/pdf/openaccess/9780192887115.pdf

Seiwert, E. (2024). “Telling China's story well” through higher education along the New Silk Road. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1177/18681026241246012

Seiwert, E. (2024). China’s ‘New International Order’: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Afghanistan and Syria. Europe-Asia Studies, 76(3), 411-432. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2023.2289870

Szunomár, Á. (2024). Economic versus political engagement with China and Taiwan in Central and Eastern Europe. In C. Wu (Ed.), Switching diplomatic recognition between Taiwan and China: Economic and social impact (pp. 179-195). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003371427-8/economic-versus-political-engagement-china-taiwan-central-eastern-europe-ágnes-szunomár

Szunomár, Á. (2024). Illiberal rationalism?: The role of political factors in China’s growing (economic) footprint in Hungary. In I. Roy, J. Eckhardt, D. Stroikos, & S. Davidescu (Eds.), Rising Power, Limited Influence: The Politics of Chinese Investments in Europe and the Liberal International Order (pp. 65-81). Oxford University Press. https://academic.oup.com/book/56191/chapter/443478917?login=false

Tran, E. (2023). Twitter, public diplomacy and social power in soft-balancing China–France relations. Journal of Contemporary China. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2023.2193150

Tran, E., & Zoubir, Y. H. (2023). China’s health diplomacy in the “New-Cold-War” era: Contrasting the battle of narratives in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. In K. P. Tan (Ed.), Asia in the Old and New Cold Wars (pp. 157-188). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

Ushkovska, M. (2023). China’s pandemic-time public diplomacy in the Balkans and the challenge to the EU’s regional leadership. New Perspectives, 31(4), 314-330. https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825x231206724

Zoubir, Y., & Tran, E. (2023). China’s ‘Health Silk Road’ diplomacy in the MENA. In Y. H. Zoubir (Ed.), Routledge Companion to China and the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 240-254). Taylor & Francis.

‌

Activities by CHERN members

‌

Event Recordings:

Creemers, R., Qiao-Franco, G., & van Etten, J. (2023, December 11). The Emergence of China's Smart State [Television broadcast]. In De Balie. Amsterdam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxhPhy7f7Bs&ab_channel=DeBalie

Finnish Institute of International Affairs. (n.d.). FORAC project final event [Video]. https://www.fiia.fi/en/event/forac-project-final-event

Pieke, F. & Hofman, B. (2024, march 15) Dealing with decoupling from China: Business strategies in a changing world. LeidenAsiaCentre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKX80vFa2JA&ab_channel=LeidenAsiaCentre

Roy, I. (n.d.). Rising power, limited influence: The politics of Chinese investments in Europe. Martin Chautari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzuO0sTSHCs

US-China Business Council. (2022, March 15). What China's dual circulation strategy means for global business [Event]. https://www.uschina.org/events/what-chinas-dual-circulation-strategy-means-global-business

Podcasts:

Prange, C. (n.d.). Isto é o Povo a Falar [Video podcast]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQD4OOquf5I&ab_channel=Isto%C3%A9oPovoaFalar

Sans Escale. (2022, April 1). La Chine, entre séduction et coercition [Audio podcast]. Podbean. https://sansescale.podbean.com/e/la-chine-entre-seduction-et-coercition/

Curriculum. (2022, May 1). Épisode 18: Émilie Tran [Audio podcast]. Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3NAqsVwC7vr0DLesX6pmL1

‌