“Politicians come and go but culture lives on” said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, when opening the “EU-China High Level Cultural Forum”, which was held in Brussels on 6-7 October.  The successful development of EU-China relations needs increased mutual understanding.  A first step towards mutual understanding is cultural engagement (culture in its broadest sense).  Within this [...]

Wen Jiabao and Nato Kan, the prime ministers of China and Japan, discussed, in the wings of the ASEM Summit in Brussels, the tensions following the 7 September maritime incident near the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.  They will have further opportunities to talk when they meet later this month in Hanoi for the East Asia Summit, [...]

It is a poor reflection on the EU’s China activities if the latest available organigrarmme is nearly five years old and there is no agreement as to how many Dialogues, Working Groups (WG) etc there are.  It indicates a serious lack of coordination.     The structure of EU-China relations according to the Commission in December 2005 [...]

The EU Summit has come and gone, but was hijacked over the Roma dispute.  This meant that little time was spent on discussing strategies towards third countries, including China.  There was an inconclusive discussion at the recent informal foreign ministers’ meeting. We do know how the EU High Representative for Foreign & Security Policy/Commission Vice [...]

• Many fewer Poles than other EU respondents approve of Obama’s handling of international policies. • Given the choice between accepting a nuclear Iran and taking military action, 64% of Americans and 43% of Europeans favour military action. • Fewer than 20% of EU and US citizens believe that China plays a positive role internationally. [...]

What is the SCO? The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has, to the surprise of many, emerged as a force to be reckoned with in Central Asia. The ‘Shanghai Five’, founded in 1996, became the SCO in 2001.  Its members are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are Observers.  Belarus [...]

The World Commerce Review of September 2010 contained the following article: US-China relations: storm clouds gathering Stanley Crossick President Hu Jintao’s long-planned visit to the United States is not likely to take place soon, as Beijing has postponed the preparatory talks as tensions mount between the two countries. Their relationship has global reach and influences [...]

Academic papers and books on democracy continue to proliferate.  Mainstream western opinion supports views such as: • Rapid economic development quickens democratisation. • The liberal democratic path is the only sustainable route to modernity. • Non-democratic regimes are necessarily ridden with corruption and cronyism. Two questions which require far more attention than they receive are: • What is meant [...]

Problems relating to the South China Sea have been bubbling below the surface for a long time.  However, the public entry of the United States into the arena has brought these problems to the surface. The South China Sea is now being spoken about in China as a “core interest” of its sovereignty: hitherto the [...]

The Chinese Mission to the EU organized a workshop on China-EU relations on 17 June 2010.  The following recommendations are supported by the Europeans present at the worshop, in the light of the discussions between them and representatives of the Mission, led by HE Song Zhe: Long-term 1. Mutual understanding 2. Jean Monnet methodology 3. 2011 China-EU Youth Year 4. Strategic thinking Short-term 5. Market [...]