European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC)

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 network was first launched on the initiative of the Elcano Royal Institute and the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Brussels on 6 November 2014. This meeting brought together experts from eleven EU member states, as well as observers from EU institutions. The ETNC members decided to meet in a different capital every six months and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) joined Elcano and Ifri in their efforts to move the project forward. Meetings have been subsequently held at Elcano’s offices in Madrid (April 2015), the MERICS offices in Berlin (November 2015), the ESCCA School of Management in Budapest (April 2016), the Institute of International Relations in Prague (October 2016), the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki (May 2017), the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome (October 2017), the University of Aveiro in Portugal (May 2018), the Latvian Institute of International Affairs/Riga Stradins University in Riga (October 2018), the Institute of International Economic Relations in Athens (May 2019), the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, in The Hague (October 2019), the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Paris (May 2022), the MERICS offices in Berlin (November 2022), the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna (April 2023), and the Swedish Institute for International Affairs/Swedish National China Centre in Stockholm (October 2023). The network now counts members from 23 research institutes in as many countries, and each participates on the basis of equality.

         ETNC strives for independent policy research and analysis and, since its inception, is entirely funded by its participating members. The topics treated in ETNC reports are debated and decided upon collectively by its members.

List of institutions contributing to ETNC

• Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), Austria
• Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, Belgium
• Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Bulgaria
• Institute of International Relations (IIR), Czech Republic
• Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark
• Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA), Finland
• French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), France
• Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Germany
• Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER), Greece
• Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
• Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Italy 
• Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA), Latvia
• Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS), Vilnius University, Lithuania
• The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, ‘Clingendael’, The Netherlands
• Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Norway
• Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Poland
• University of Aveiro, Portugal
• Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific (RISAP), Romania
• Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), Slovakia
• Elcano Royal Institute, Spain
• Swedish National China Centre, The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), Sweden
• Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (Foraus), Switzerland
• Lau China Institute, King's College London, United Kingdom

List of ETNC reports

• Mapping Europe-China Relations: A bottom-up approach (November 2015)
• Europe and China's New Silk Roads (December 2016)
• Chinese Investment in Europe: A country-level approach (December 2017)
• Political Values in Europe-China Relations (December 2018)
• Europe in the Face of US-China Rivalry (January 2020)
• Covid-19 and Europe-China Relations (April 2020)
• China's Soft Power in Europe: Falling on hard times (April 2021)
• Dependence in Europe's Relations with China: Weighing Perceptions and Reality (April 2022)
• From a China strategy to no strategy at all: Exploring the diversity of European approaches (July 2023)

All ETNC publications are also available on the network's website: https://etnc.info/. 

Important disclaimer

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.