MERICS China Podcast

Tokyo’s approach to de-risking, the role of Japan’s Minister for Economic Security and the specific challenges of and the need for multilateral cooperation in economic security issues are the topics in this episode of the MERICS China Podcast. MERICS Analyst Francesca Ghiretti talked to Kazuto Suzuki, Director of the Institute of Geoeconomics and professor at University of Tokyo, on the sidelines of the Advancing Economic Security Forum  in July 2023...

In July 2023, MERICS hosted the Advancing Economic Security Forum, previously known as the Allied Economic Forum. The discussions on what goods and investments should flow freely and which should be put under more scrutiny, on what constitutes military or civilian uses of goods and services and on how the global economic landscape is changing, are part of an ongoing and expanding field concerned with economic security...

International sanctions have become a common tool in the relationship between the US, the EU, and China in the last decade. If we add the sanctions on Russia in connection with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine into the mix and the question of Chinese adherence or circumvention of them, it seems high time that we devote some time to talking about Chinese thinking on this tool of international coercion...

China has extended its High-Speed Rail network from about 9.000 to 42.000 km of tracks with a fleet of Chinese made trains running on it. The first fully domestically engineered passenger aircraft C919 has started its commercial service and on June 6, the first domestically built large cruise ship has left Shanghai for sea trials. China is undoubtedly making rapid progress in air, sea and rail transportation...

Dealing with China is becoming increasingly difficult for German and European politics and business. In this episode MERICS Director Communications and Publications Claudia Wessling talks to MERICS Director External Relations Bernhard Bartsch and lead author of a new study titled “Shaky China – Five scenarios for Xi Jinping’s third term” which looks at five different pathways for how China could develop in the next five years...

Im Dezember 2022 beendete die chinesische Regierung jäh ihre Null-Covid Politik...

In this episode of the MERICS China Podcast, former MERICS German Chancellor fellow Michael Laha talks to Prof. Taylor Fravel, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), about the recently published MIT China Strategy. The document puts forth a set of guidelines for one of the world’s most important research university’s engagement with China. 

In 2022, Chinese global outbound foreign direct investment (or FDI) has fallen to an 8-year low. Accordingly, figures for Chinese investment in Europe are also down, hitting the lowest mark since 2013. This episode accompanies a new report by MERICS and Rhodium Group on Chinese FDI in Europe...

How to handle relations with China is an important aspect of the trade and tech coordination between the EU and the US. Ahead of the coming Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in late May, we ask where the transatlantic cooperation on trade and technology currently stands, what de-risking and decoupling relations with China would mean for Europe, and how the EU and the US aim to promote tech innovation...

The internet is the great connector that brings together people from around the world. For now, it is governed by a fairly standardized set of rules and principles of technology. However, this may be subject to change as China is actively pushing to create a version of the internet more amenable to the central control of the one-party state and national sovereignty. This may lead to a fragmentation of the internet – where different internets would coexist alongside each other...