China’s Belt & Road Initiative and EU-China Relations

Since late 2013, the Chinese government, led by President XI Jinping, has introduced a new policy initiative – the Belt & Road Initiative. This initiative, which will have a strong impact on both Chinese domestic development and external relations in the coming decades, is regarded by China observers as a new strategy of XI’s leadership. The EU-China Research Centre and the Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations, College of Europe, have been closely following the making of the Belt & Road Initiative in China and organized one of the first conferences inside Europe on “European Perspectives on China’s New Silk Road” at the European Economic and Social Committee on 14-15 September 2015.  The EU-China Research Centre, later on, organized a seminar on “The Belt & Road Initiative and Regional Economic Cooperation” together with Mr Jo LEINEN, MEP and President of the Delegation for Relations with the PRC, at the European Parliament on 11 July 2016.

Based on the research that has been conducted by the staff (including visiting fellows of the EU-China Research Centre), the EU-China Research Centre and the Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations organized its third event to examine this initiative and present the results of the research on this topic.

The seminar programme was as follows:

Chair: Mr Jo LEINEN

Presentations:

Professor Xinya MAO (Associate Professor of the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, Visiting Fellow of the EU-China Research Centre funded by P&G): 
European Perceptions on China’s B&R Initiative;

Professor Jing MEN (Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations and Director of the EU-China Research Centre, IRD, College of Europe):
China’s Belt & Road Initiative and EU-China Relations – The case of Piraeus;

Mr Francesco Saverio MONTESANO (Research Assistant of the Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations, IRD, College of Europe):
Turkey and the Belt & Road Initiative – Geopolitics and Economics.

Discussants:

Dr Duncan FREEMAN, Research Fellow of the EU-China Research Centre, IRD, College of Europe;

Professor Haiyan ZHANG, Professor of Asia/China Business Strategy and Management, NEOMA Business School and Senior Research Affiliate to the EU-China Research Centre, IRD, College of Europe.

Please contact eu-china-conferences [at] coleurope.eu for more information on the seminar.