Unpacking EU-China Relations in 2022: Prospects for the Year Ahead

As the Russia-Ukraine war ravages on, U.S.-China tensions intensify, and Xi Jinping emerges triumphant from the 20th Party Congress, the future of EU-China relations is highly uncertain. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s recent trip to Beijing, soon after approving purchase of a minority share in a Hamburg port terminal by China’s COSCO, was not without controversy elsewhere in Berlin and Europe. China is a top economic partner for both the EU and major member states, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has fueled reviews of trade and investment dependencies in many European capitals. The erstwhile 17+1 arrangement between China and Central and Eastern European countries has dwindled to the 14+1. Major EU member states, including Germany, are actively revisiting their China policies. What are the prospects for the EU-China relationship going into 2023? What challenges and opportunities does Xi Jinping face in improving relations with Europe nearly a year on from his no-limits partnership with President Vladimir Putin?

Please join the CSIS Interpret: China project and the CSIS Europe Program for a discussion of recent developments in EU-China relations and outlooks for 2023 with leading experts who will leverage newly translated Chinese language documents to unpack these questions. The expert panel will feature Mikko Huotari, Executive Director of MERICS, Noah Barkin, Managing Editor at the Rhodium Group and Visiting Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, Mathieu Duchâtel, Director of the Asia Program at Institut Montaigne, and Liana Fix, Fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The discussion will be co-moderated by Lily McElwee, Fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies and Max Bergmann, Director of the Europe Program and Stuart Center in Euro-Atlantic and Northern European Studies at CSIS. 

This event is made possible by support from the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.