China pushes South: footprint, consequences and dependencies

On March 1st, 2023, Asia Centre and its partners Bruegel and MERICS held an event in Paris as a first public disclosure of their respective work of the European Union research program “China Horizons”. The meeting was attended by over 100 participants (half of whom were present), and took place in the presence of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Védrine, who has honored us by opening the session and by answering questions from the audience.

Clément Durif, junior fellow, Asia Centre, presented his research on the potential correlation between China’s growing financial and economic influence in African countries and their voting behavior at the United Nations General Assembly. His work was then commented by the panel composed of André de Bussy (Asia Centre), François Issard (Asia Centre) and Robin Schindowski (Bruegel).

Robin Schindowski, Bruegel, discussed his work on the perception of China’s Belt and Road Initiative across the globe and its evolvement over time, as well as the evolving narrative behind the Belt and Road Initiative. Very instructive comments were made by the panel composed of Jean-Baptiste Monnier (Asia Centre), Matthias Stepan (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) and Séverine Arsène (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

We would like to thank all participants for attending this meeting and for their very insightful comments. We also appreciate the precious hospitality of LPA-CGR lawyers.

The public presentations in Paris followed several closed-door consultation and harmonization workshops (on the topics covered by China Horizons) with representatives of the European Commission, European diplomats based in Brussels and members of the ReConnect China consortium. These workshops gave rise to rich exchanges.