Navigating the mounting tensions between the United States and China is a geopolitical minefield. Is Europe up to the challenge?

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
...“Smart city” development has become a fashionable policy and research topic. A growing number of central and local governments in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, in partnership with companies from diverse sectors (construction, transport, energy, water, etc), consulting firms, NGOs and...
China's Social Credit System remains a poorly understood combination of rating schemes and blacklists, but the consequences for individuals and businesses are very real.
The current protest movement in Hong Kong, which began with the proposed extradition law in June 2019 that would have considerably weakened the judicial border between Hong Kong and Mainland China, has set itself apart from the city’s numerous movements in recent years by its massive following...
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, if not from the birth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) itself, relations with United States have proven to be a central factor in China’s strategic calculus and a major driver of Chinese foreign policy. Indeed, America’s...
The major transformations that are occurring on the Chinese gas market have profound repercussions on the global gas and LNG markets, especially on trade, investment and prices. In just two years, China has become the world’s first gas importer and is on track to become the largest importer of...
China’s gas industry has been moving into a new era. China’s natural gas demand has skyrocketed amid a state campaign that encourages coal-to-gas switching. In just two years, China added 75 billion cubic meters (bcm) to global gas demand, the equivalent of the UK gas market, the second...
International trade is one of the themes that used to constitute the very raison d’être of the G7, alongside international security and energy policy.
Global governance emerged to deal with the gap between the plurality and diversity of states and the collective and transnational nature of increasingly complex global affairs.
The Think Tank 7 (T7) is an engagement group that brings together the leading Think Tanks from the G7 countries in order to analyze and make recommendations on key issues of the G7 presidency.
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.
Lunch-debate with Robert Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Meeting chaired by Thierry de Montbrial, Executive Chairman, Ifri.
By invitation only.
Working language: English.
Claude Meyer answers Jean-Baptiste Boursier’s questions in “le Grand Angle” on BFMTV.
...All the European stock exchanges declined on Monday, as concerned investors looked with pessimism at China’s slowing growth. Paris lost 5.35 %. Claude Meyer discusses what consequences can be expected.
...Five days after Tianjin’s impressive explosions, Toyota announced a three-day stop in the production of its city’s sites. The Japanese company is...
China’s ambition is to become a great financial power. But the necessary reform of its financial system and its will to act progressively could mean that it will be a long time before its exchange rate system is liberalized. Can the Yuan realistically become an...
Is the sudden devaluation of the Yuan a sign of some form of panic from Beijing following the slowed growth of the Chinese economy?
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In this interview, Claude Meyer underlines the three major vulnerabilities of the Chinese economy, and describes the investments China has made since the early 2000’s to address them.
...Apparue en même temps que le miracle économique, la population des couches moyennes incarne un pays en pleine mutation : confort matériel, meilleure éducation, ouverture sur le monde... mais aussi rupture avec les valeurs traditionnelles.
Trade is the focus of a three-day visit to France that Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang started on Tuesday. Beyond deals with French companies, China and France are expected to sign an agreement on joint infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa.
Cet été marque le 70ème anniversaire de la fin de la deuxième guerre mondiale avec le largage des bombes atomiques sur Hiroshima et Nagasaki en Août 1945. Alors que les relations entre la Chine et la Corée du Sud sont au beau fixe, Pékin et Séoul entretiennent des rapports...