China in Europe Research Network (CHERN) Conference: China in Europe in Times of Global Disruption

CHERN 2022 Conference: China in Europe in Times of Global Disruption

Co-organized by the core group of CHERN* and Sébastien Colin (Senior Lecturer at Inalco, researcher at IFRAE (Inalco-Université Paris Cité-CNRS) and member of CHERN's Management Committee), this conference welcomed over 100 researchers from 24 countries, the vast majority of them European**. Its program consisted of a series of round tables, punctuated by a keynote on Friday, September 2, and parallel workshops, organized by each of CHERN's working groups, on Saturday, September 3.

Conference report

by Sébastien Colin, lecturer in the Chinese Studies Department at Inalco and researcher at the Institut français de recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est (IFRAE - UMR 8043 Inalco, Université Paris Cité, CNRS).

Round Tables

Round tables addressed issues of interest such as:

• the impacts of the war in Ukraine on Sino-European relations

Composed of academics and practitioners from media and politics, the first round table generated a rich discussion focusing mainly on how China's EU policy options have changed with the war in Ukraine. Has China miscalculated the EU's response to the war? Has it resulted in a more coherent European position? To this last question, speakers were skeptical, given that, in their view, the war has not eased internal divisions.

• The projection of China in the world

The aim of the second round table was to present collective and individual research currently being carried out in France, enabling a better understanding of the Global China phenomenon via, among other things, analysis of the strategies of Chinese and local players. Based on recent field data, four presentations focused respectively on the Chinese diaspora and migration, Chinese standards in Southeast Asia, Chinese investment in the urban environment in Southeast Asia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese investment in the telecommunications sector in Pakistan. While all these presentations testify to the circulation of Chinese standards, models and references beyond China's borders, accompanying Chinese investments, they also highlight a diversity of situations in the implementation of projects according to local political and socio-economic contexts and the aspirations of local authorities. The impact of this Chinese projection is also manifold. In some South-East Asian countries, it is playing as much a part in the segmentation of the labor market as in the internationalization and urban development of second-tier cities. Situated at the interface between China and local societies, the Chinese diaspora is an important player in China's multifaceted global engagement.

• Sino-European cooperation for ecological transition

The third round table analyzed EU-China cooperation for ecological transition, particularly in these times of economic and political tensions. According to the speakers, this cooperation is more about policies and regulations such as the Emissions Trading Scheme, or the next generation of rules for carbon emissions in international trade in goods and raw materials, rather than technology, while China has already achieved both global market and technological dominance in several green industries. Now perceived as an "economic competitor" and a "systemic rival" by the EU, China is no longer necessarily the partner it once was on the issue of global warming. Seen as an engine for the development of national economies, the ecological transition has become a sphere of competition between the EU and China for global leadership.

• Europe's autonomy in the field of digital technologies produced in China

The fourth round table addressed the question of how to achieve European strategic autonomy that makes the EU more resilient to the geopolitical challenges posed by China's technological development. Focusing on semiconductors, panelists examined different dimensions and understandings of strategic autonomy, ranging from national security to supply chain resilience, sustainability and technological competitiveness.

Closing the first day, Shaun Breslin, Professor at the University of Warwick, analyzed how China has moved very quickly in European perspectives (mainly those of the UK) from an economic opportunity to a major security challenge. The Covid-19 pandemic, the issues of Hong Kong and Xinjiang, China's influence in developing countries and the challenge it represents in defining international standards are just some of the reasons for this evolution. However, while this perception now predominates in diplomatic, military and intelligence circles, Shaun Breslin notes that trade with China and cross-investment continue to grow, and therefore questions the perception of the business world.

Workshops

Organized by the various working groups, parallel workshops were held during the day on September 3. They covered various themes relating to the perception of China in Europe, Chinese investment in infrastructure, digital technology and migration.

One of these workshops saw the presentation of collective research into television coverage of Chinese diplomacy during the pandemic by British, Hungarian and Chinese broadcasters and its impact on European public opinion. Analysis of 950 comments generated by videos posted on YouTube shows that 17% of comments reveal a positive perception of China, while 33% demonstrate a negative perception. The research project team presented specific emotional categories, showing that anger, fear and disgust were behind the majority of negative comments, often linked to topics - political, economic, misinformation - other than the pandemic.

Another of the workshops was primarily aimed at creating a space for the exchange of research experience on Chinese technological capabilities and their implications for Europe. In small groups, researchers exchanged and shared their experience on sources (which have become scarce due to restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and growing political tensions), methodological innovations, ethical issues in digital research as well as the challenges of scientific collaboration with China.

A third workshop involved the presentation of an ongoing research project aimed at understanding the logics of Chinese investment in infrastructure in Europe, the geopolitical dynamics surrounding these investment flows, the structuring of projects and their articulation with national and local development policies.

Finally, a fourth workshop offered an overview of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and China's Covid zero policy on Chinese migration and Chinese living in Europe. One presentation, for example, showed that Chinese construction workers and farmers have now virtually left Russia, some fleeing to China, but that the war has made Siberian universities more attractive to Chinese students wary of instability in Western Russia. Another presentation spoke of the mental health problems and xenophobia experienced by Chinese in France during the pandemic. Finally, yet another described the flight of young middle-class Chinese disturbed by the confinements put in place in China.

During these two days of conference, Inalco was thus a place for reflection and exchange between European researchers working on China in Europe and Sino-European relations. By co-organizing and hosting this CHERN conference, the first to be held face-to-face since March 2020, Inalco contributed to strengthening the network at a time when the structuring of European research on China remains more than necessary. At both the Maison de la Recherche and the Pôle des Langues et Civilisations, Inalco also showed itself at its best in the eyes of around a hundred European colleagues. An important scientific event in a network funded by the European Commission, the CHERN conference was also a great opportunity to promote Inalco.

CHERN is funded by the COST program (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

* Nana de Graaff (Senior Lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and CHERN Chair), Jeffrey Henderson (Professor Emeritus at the University of Bristol and CHERN Vice-Chair), Alexandra Filius (Program Manager at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and CHERN's Grant Holder), Jelena Gledic (Senior Instructor at the University of Belgrade and CHERN's Science Communication Manager) and the coordinators of the five working groups: Agnes Szunomar (University of Budapest), Tim Rühlig (German Council on Foreign Relations), Nicholas Jepson (University of Manchester), Agota Revesz (Technische Universität Berlin) and Pal Nyiri (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

** Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.