China is in the midst of a long-term effort to develop a world-class space program with a strong military and national security component.

China

In 2017, Secretary General Xi Jinping said: "This is an era that will see China move closer to the center of the world stage". The People's Republic of China is indeed at a pivotal moment in its history, gradually acquiring all the components of power and competing with, if not surpassing, the major world powers. This new status is challenging the global balance of power, raising questions and awakening fears. The European Union and its member states are seeking to adapt their position vis-à-vis China, to face its new diplomatic assertiveness, the rise of its military and technological capacities, and to deal with the Sino-American rivalry. However, since Beijing's international policy cannot be dissociated from its domestic context, it is also necessary to analyze the internal political dynamics that dictate foreign policy choices.
Through its research activities, Ifri's Center for Asian Studies aims to provide a better understanding of contemporary China and its position on the world stage.
Senior Research Fellow and Director of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies
...Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies
...Senior Advisor, Center for Asian Studies
...This report is a result of a wide-scale study of public opinion on China in 13 European countries,1 conducted in September and October 2020, on the research sample representative with respect to gender, age, level of education, country region, and settlement density. Here, we focus on the...
In September and October 2020, the Sinophone Borderlands project at Palacký University Olomouc conducted a wide-scale survey of public opinion on China in 13 European countries. The polled countries include: Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia,...
On 21 July 2020, French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire participated remotely in the High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua.
This study assesses the prospects of a hydrogen economy with Chinese characteristics. Against the backdrop of an escalating US-China trade war and the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, key Chinese stakeholders become increasingly interested in moving the hydrogen economy agenda...
As international relations are increasingly reorganized around the US-China rivalry, the tensions between these two great powers are shaping a growing number of sectors, and the exchange of sensitive technologies in particular. This is a critical issue for European companies today. <...>
At first glance, China and Turkey have many interests to cooperate. The deployment of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Turkey's colossal investment and financing needs, as well as President Erdogan's mistrust of the West, appear as many converging interests. Yet economic cooperation...
Xi Jinping’s announcement of carbon neutrality is impeccably timed, but the hard part lies ahead.
When politics catches up to the economy. In the wake of the EU-China summit, what can we expect from the bilateral relations? 2020 was supposed to be the year of EU-China relations. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has quickly disrupted the positive expectations.
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a harsh spotlight on the state of global governance. Faced with the greatest emergency since the Second World War, nations have regressed into narrow self-interest. The concept of a rules-based international order has been stripped of meaning, while...
Transforming Asia: What impact of international politics and grand strategies on regional stability?
As the regional balance of power in East Asia continues to evolve and tensions in a number of hot spots - from the East and South China Seas to the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait - either simmer or intensify, the future of regional stability is increasingly uncertain....
Shaping Eurasia: What Convergence between China's New Silk Road and the Eurasian Union?
As geo-strategic and geo-economic balances evolve across the Eurasian continent, two initiatives – the Chinese-led “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the Eurasian Economic Union – promise to shape the region’s emerging geo-political...
Boosting Power in sub-Saharan Africa: China’s involvement in electricity
Access to electricity has proven a major impediment to economic growth in Africa. As an increasingly important investor in the region, what role has China played in tackling issues of energy poverty, and what can be done in the future?
Mapping Europe-China Relations: A Bottom-up Approach
This seminar will present the findings of the first report produced by the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC), a network of China experts from EU member states launched at the initiative...
Taiwan After the Elections: What Domestic and International Challenges Ahead?
Tsai Ing-wen will be inaugurated as the new president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on May 20.
China's Development and China-Europe Cooperation. A conference with H.E. Yang Jiechi, State Councilor of the People's Republic of China
China's Development and China-Europe Cooperation: Sources of Positive Energy for the World. A conference with Yang Jiechi, State Councilor of the People's Republic of China.
Cooperation despite Frictions in Northeast Asia Perspectives from China, Japan and South Korea
Despite the political tensions that oppose Japan, China and South Korea, recent months have seen a certain rapprochement between Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing. The first trilateral summit in three years was held in November 2015.
U. S. - China relations Lunch-debate with Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, President of Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), New York
Kevin Rudd, 58, is a world renowned expert on China. He is fluent in Mandarin and in particular plays a major role in informal relations between the US and China, the main theme of this lunch debate.
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Dinner-debate China and the World
Marking the publication of the Summer (No.4) issue of Horizons "A Tale of Two Planets: The Return of China / The Future of Europe"
Chinese middle classes: what profile, aspirations and political engagement?
Chinese middle classes are often perceived as a monolithic category of the population, whereas, in fact, they have different profiles and aspirations depending on their geographical origin and on the generation or socio-professional category they belong to.
Despite the political tensions that oppose Japan, China and South Korea, recent months have seen a certain rapprochement between Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing. The first trilateral summit in three years was held in November 2015.
Reports have emerged that China has set up a missile launch base on Woody Island, part of an archipelago disputed with Taiwan and Vietnam. This comes just as the US President was wrapping up an ASEAN summit to strengthen ties after the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. How will this...
Después de haber rehuido durante años implicarse en una región que considera un avispero, China quiere finalmente mostrarse como un participante más activo en Oriente Medio. La visita que el presidente chino, Xi Jinping, comienza este martes a Arabia Saudí, Irán y Egipto señala la creciente...
John Seaman answers questions from the China Daily on the recently concluded negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and their consequences for China and for Europe.
...While China may be setting the bar high for itself in it's commitments for the COP21 climate negotiations this December, these ultimately serve to foster necessary progress on environmental issues and economic...
During his state visit in the United States, the Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a new model of relations between the two countries. In Alice Ekman’s opinion, the notion of a
Alice Ekman comments the defense posture of China as Beijing is holding a large military parade on September 3rd.
Los actos que esta semana organiza China para conmemorar el 70 aniversario de su victoria ante Japón, coronados por un desfile militar en la plaza de Tiananmen, plantean un nuevo desafío a los lazos entre Pekín y Tokio, ya dañados en los últimos años por desavenencias históricas y...