MERICS Foresight Workshop: The Future of EU-China Relations

During the October 2022 EU Foreign Affairs Council, the EU27 agreed that the three-pronged approach to China policy outlined in the 2019 EU-China Strategic Outlook still holds value. In the approach, China is viewed simultaneously as a cooperation partner, economic competitor and systemic rival. Four years after the release of the Strategic Outlook, the action points included in the document have either been achieved, proven unattainable or become outdated. A new set of action points could give the EU’s China policy a better sense of strategic direction. To facilitate the identification of these points, MERICS organized a foresight workshop in Brussels.

This in-person foresight workshop was organized as part of the Horizon Europe-sponsored China Horizons project. It brought together a group of about 15 European officials involved in the design and implementation of the EU’s China policy for a foresight exercise aiming to shed light on the future of EU-China relations. Held in a closed-door, off-the-record setting, the two-hour interactive workshop applied foresight methodologies based on horizon scanning and risk mapping to identify and explore a range of plausible future challenges, encouraging out of the box thinking.

The workshop facilitated informal discussions on potential future challenges in EU-China relations. It also helped to identify which of these challenges require the most urgent action by the EU.

The outcomes of the workshop will be additionally used to inform the MERICS project on an EU Action Plan on China 2.0.

This event was for MERICS Members and key stakeholders in a confidential setting and by personal invitation only.