The Confucius Institute at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations, the EU Asian Centre (EUAC) and Brussels Academy for China and European Studies (BACES) invite you to join the academic debate together with scholars from Europe and China on 2 October 2018, from 9:00 to13:00 at the Egmont Palace. In 2003 the EU and China started talking about an EU-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The two parties had very different definitions and expectations of wait such a partnership should entail. That is why these negotiations started under Barroso  and were taken over by Juncker’s team when he came at the helm of the EU Commission. On the Chinese there was also a transition of power from Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao to Xi Jinping. In 2013 the Chinese President Xi Jinping came forward with a new direction in which to take the EU-China strategic partnership calling it “the partnership for Peace, Growth, Reform and Civilization”. The European side was less clear about the direction they wanted the partnership to take, although the relations between the EU and China kept on developing.. How to assess the development of the EU-China strategic partnership in the last 15 years and how to look at the future? What is the impact of the Trump administration in the US on the strategic relationship between the EU and China?

(Photo credit: EEAS Press Team)

 

Programme

08:30 – 09:00 Registration

09:00– 09:30: Opening

Chair: Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations & Gent University

• Régine Vandriessche, Director Asia-Pacific, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belgium
• Representative, EEAS (tbc)

09:30 – 11:00 Panel I. EU-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 15 Years in General

Chair: Mr. James Moran, Senior Associate, EU Asia Centre in Brussels

• Dr. Yinhong SHI, Renmin University of China & Consultant of the State Council
• Dr. Hua XING, Centre for EU Studies, Shanghai International Studies University
• Dr. Gustaaf Geeraerts, Distinguished Professor, Fudan University
• Dr. Mariya Stoycheva, Vice Rector, Jean Monnet Chair, Sofia University, Bulgaria
• Dr Astrid H. M. Nordin, Centre for China Studies, Lancaster University, UK

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 – 13:00 Panel II. EU-China Economic Cooperation

Chair: Prof. Dr. Xinning SONG, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam, Renmin University of China & VUB

• Dr. Weiping HUANG, Jean Monnet Chair, Renmin University of China
• Xiang DENG, Jean Monnet Chair, Sichuan University in Chengdu
• Dr. Jing MEN, Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations, College of Europe
• Dr. Duncan Freeman, College of Europe
• Dr. Jean-Christophe Defraigne, Saint Louis University Brussels