MERICS China Podcast

The dire situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover continues to make headlines, and the question has emerged whether China is the big winner of the US withdrawal from the country. In this episode of the MERICS China podcast Raffaello Pantucci, Singapore-based Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), explains that narratives of China winning in Afghanistan ar...

China has been quick to signal its acceptance of renewed Taliban rule over Afghanistan, stating that it respects the quote, “the will and decision of the people of Afghanistan” on August 16 – one day after the Taliban leadership announced their victory in the presidential palace in Kabul. What are China’s interests in Afghanistan? How do the new circumstances impact Xinjiang? And what can decision...

China is radically changing the way it regulates data environments. With a new Data Security Law passed and a Personal Information Protection Law in the works, China is moving from a largely unregulated data environment to a highly regulated one. Rebecca Arcesati and John Lee , Analyst and Senior Analyst at MERICS respectively, join the podcast to talk about the effects and implications of these l...

Die G7-, NATO- und EU-US-Gipfeltreffen im Juni haben gezeigt, wie wichtig das Thema China auch in den transatlantischen Beziehungen ist. Während die USA auf eine härtere Gangart gegenüber China drängen, tendiert zum Beispiel Deutschland zu einem weniger konfrontativen Ansatz. In dieser Folge des MERICS-Podcasts diskutiert Claudia Wessling, Leiterin Kommunikation und Publikationen, mit Jan Weidenfe...

The summits in June, G7, NATO and the EU-US top-level meeting, have shown that China is a crucial topic in transatlantic relations. While we currently see the US pushing for a tougher stance towards China, German approaches could be described as more careful and less confrontational. In this episode of our podcast, Claudia Wessling, Director Communications and Publications, discusses transatlantic...

The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers itself as being in the midst of the most challenging period of its rule. In the eyes of party leaders, potential threats to regime security wait behind every corner and all matters are, therefore, seen through the prism of national security. This behavior is no longer limited to the domestic sphere but has expanded to the international...

Digitalization is a crucial element of the Chinese Communist Party’s governance approach. It serves to improve governance and public service, but also enhances the party state’s surveillance and monitoring capabilities. In this episode of the MERICS experts podcast, MERICS Senior Analyst Katja Drinhausen explains how the CCP has embraced digitization as a governance tool, the extent of digital sur...

Mikko Huotari , Executive Director of MERICS, answers questions about the challenges the CCP is faced with in its 100th year and what Europe should be prepared for in relations with China. Beijing will be overseeing multiple challenges in the coming years: Productivity crisis, a crisis of social and regional inequality, high leverage in the financial system and social insecurity. European actors,...

China’s economic success and its achievements in poverty reduction are often perceived as inspiring to other countries, especially in the global south. Beijing itself actively promotes its state capitalism as the China model – and as an alternative for Western liberal democracy. But increased Chinese engagement has also led to criticism in neighboring countries. To talk about the issue of informal...

Die sechsten deutsch-chinesischen Regierungskonsultationen finden in diesem Jahr in einem schwierigen Kontext statt. Wegen Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Xinjiang hatte die EU vor fünf Wochen Sanktionen gegen China verhängt. Die Führung in Beijing reagierte umgehend mit weitaus schärferen Sanktionen. Die Reaktion der Bundesregierung fiel bisher verhalten aus. Über die deutsch-chinesischen Beziehung...

“The EU's policy towards China should be based on the following principles: cooperate where possible, compete where needed, confront where necessary.” This is the vision of the European People’s Party’s (EPP) strategy paper on European relations with China released in the beginning of March. In this episode of MERICS Experts we talk to its author, Radosław Sikorski , Member of the European Pa...

On February 9, China’s President Xi Jinping held an online 17+1 summit with representatives from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The summit would normally be attended by Chinese Premier and CEE Prime Ministers, making Xi’s decision to take Li Keqiang’s place a boost to the meeting’s importance. The format has been controversial - with Brussels and Western capitals maintaining that it...

Accompanying our MERICS China Forecast 2021 event, MERICS experts wages a look at three global challenges in 2021, namely decoupling and the evolution of multilateralism, cooperation and competition in the climate crisis, and the development of connectivity in a world plagued by a pandemic. For every section we are proud to introduce a very accomplished and knowledgeable guest. Our first guest is...

The second World War in China is among the least known chapters of Word War II, yet it is crucial in shaping the politics of post-war Asia into the present moment. The way the war is remembered in China has changed over the years and keeps on changing. The recent memorial ceremony on December 13, 2020, remembered the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. It is only the seventh year since a National Memorial D...

From a highly publicized trade war to assigning blame for the coronavirus pandemic, US-China relations have loomed large during the Trump presidency and have worsened over time. With a new administration under president elect Joe Biden taking charge in January 2021, what will change and what will remain the same? Head of Global China Research at MERICS, Matt Ferchen , joins MERICS Experts to asses...

China has taken on a more confident and aggressive role as a global actor by expanding economically, politically and militarily, becoming a force to be reckoned with in virtually all aspects of geopolitical competition. Xi Jinping has made it clear that China has ambitions to become a global power by 2049. How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected these ambitions? MERICS Senior Analyst Helena Legarda...

Der angemessene Umgang mit dem neuen China unter Xi Jinping treibt ihn um: Der ZDF-Fernsehjournalist und ehemalige Chinakorrespondent Thomas Reichart setzt sich in seinem aktuellen Buch „Das Feuer des Drachen“ mit hartnäckigen Vorurteilen gegenüber China auseinander, die die wahren Gefahren außer Acht ließen. „Die größte Gefahr einer verkürzten China-Wahrnehmung ist, dass wir gar nicht realisieren...

Was droht Hongkong, nachdem innerhalb von nur sechs Wochen seit Inkrafttreten des Nationalen Sicherheitsgesetzes die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit bereits so drastisch eingeschränkt und die Parlamentswahlen verschoben wurden? Was bedeutet Chinas Vorgehen in Hongkong für Taiwan, und was kann das Ausland tun, um einen weiteren Demokratieabbau zu verhindern? In dieser Ausgabe von MERICS Experts diskut...

The discussion of Sino-African relations continues to be dominated by China’s economic activities and aspirations. However, the People's Republic has been working for more than a decade to establish itself as a serious actor in security policy on the African continent and has already made significant progress. Former MERICS Academic Research Fellow Tom Bayes joins MERICS Experts to present hi...

A few weeks ago, a group of Tory members of the British parliament decided to form the China Research Group (CRG) to promote “fresh thinking” about how Britain should respond to China’s rise. The group is be led by the chairman of Britain’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat . In this podcast interview with MERICS analyst Thomas des Garets Geddes , he explains the reasons for establishing th...

The World Health Organization is an indispensable institution in the fight against pandemics. In dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis the WHO and its director general Tedros Adhanom have provided and disseminated important and critical information for dealing with the virus, but were also criticized – not least by US president Donald Trump – for acting to slowly in the early stage of the crisi...

China’s engagement as a development actor is seen as controversial, especially in the West. While the Chinese leadership portrays development as a solution to almost all problems both domestic and foreign, some Western observers see China as a bad actor in developing nations. How does the Chinese concept of development differ from ideas in the West? What are the aims of it and what are – often uni...

Europe is increasingly being put in a tight spot between its biggest trading partners China and the US. Especially in view of the upcoming 5G network expansion, the latter has put pressure on the EU and European countries to exclude the Chinese tech-company Huawei from European networks. China, on the other hand, has hinted at economic consequences should Chinese companies be banned. While this di...

Since several weeks, China is struggling with a severe coronavirus outbreak. China’s regime and its leader Xi Jinping are facing huge criticism in handling the crisis – both internally and internationally. Given this situation, questions arise on how an authoritarian state deals with such a crisis. Can China control an epidemic from the top down? What are the political and economic impacts? Where...

China is increasingly active in the Indian Ocean – be it through trade, port calls or research activities. This development is watched closely by the countries in the region and beyond. How do these states respond to this shift? How does this activity impact China’s relationship to India? And should it concern the European Union? To answer these and more questions I was joined by Pradeep Taneja ,...