The European Council on Foreign Relations

Commentary: China

China's rise is a huge challenge to Europe: we must respond with a global China policy

17 Jun 10 - François Godement

The economic crisis has strengthened Chinese power relative to the rest of the world. Now, if Europe is to make its limited influence count on issues ranging from Iranian proliferation to climate change and the Dalai Lama, it needs to develop a global China policy.

Tags: China

Copenhagen, and why Beijing should not over-play its hand

25 Mar 10 - François Godement

The Copenhagen Climate Conference showed the world that China was willing to use its power aggresively. But although it walked away without having given an inch, Beijing should worry about over-playing a strong hand

Tags: China

The United States and Asia in 2009: public diplomacy and strategic continuity

11 Mar 10 - François Godement

“Whatever works”. Is this Obama’s key Asia policy?

Tags: China

"Mushtarak", le Guadalcanal agfhan?

26 Feb 10 - Daniel Korski

Daniel Korski dans le Monde sur l’opération Mushtarak en Afghanistan et pourquoi elle doit être une campagne militaire et politique et pas simplement une bataille.

Tags: China

Has the EU escaped a Chinese rescue?

17 Feb 10 - François Godement

There is one worrying element to Greece’s financial tragedy that people seem to have forgotten: Greece first turned to Beijing for help.

Again, the China arms embargo issue

03 Feb 10 - François Godement

Spain’s call for the EU to lift the arms embargo against China suffers from bad timing and blundering diplomacy.

Tags: China

Getting out of the Afghan quagmire

27 Jan 10 - Daniel Korski

It is time for the West to stop dreaming and adopt more pragmatic goals in Afghanistan.

Tags: China

Sri Lanka's Choice, and the World's Responsibility

13 Jan 10 - Chris Patten

Pity the poor Sri Lankan voter. As presidential elections loom on Jan. 26, the public is faced with a choice between two candidates who openly accuse each other of war crimes.

Battling strategic irrelevance

16 Dec 09 - Richard Gowan

European leaders should beware exiting Afghanistan. They have already staked their credibility there, and the balance of power in Asia is very uncertain.

Tags: China

The EU and China: Talking past each other

08 Dec 09 - François Godement

Did anybody notice the recent EU-China summit that took place at the end of November in Nanjing? No? The summit only lasted an hour and forty-five minutes.

Tags: China

Europe must support Obama's surge - but with one joint string attached

01 Dec 09 - Daniel Korski

President Obama’s surge deserves European backing. But in return, EU governments should demand an international commission, like the Iraq Study Group, to develop a political strategy and report back in a year.

Tags: China

Obama in Asia

16 Nov 09 - François Godement

Despite dissimilarities between them, a G2 of China and the US haunts Europe.

Tags: China

Welt ohne Führung

15 Nov 09 - Thomas Klau

Obama’s China-Visit was more than an episode: it symbolises the end of a long era of global US leadership. The power vacuum will have to be filled by stronger global institutions. A piece in German.

Tags: China

La Chine, vieux pays, mais jeune puissance économique

30 Sep 09 - François Godement

Nous sommes face à la consécration d’un mythe fondateur, celui d’une superpuissance.

Tags: China

Can Afghans still count on the EU?

The EU should commit itself to a ‘civilian surge’, but with Afghan rather than European civilians.

Tags: China

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Latest Publications

A danger or an opportunity? Post-Copenhagen China and climate change

This latest edition of “China Analysis” looks at the response to the Copenhagen conference within China itself, as it faces the worst environment position imaginable, threatening its systems and interests. 

A global China policy

China is now a huge foreign policy challenge to the EU: it must respond with a global China policy.

Beyond wait-and-see: the way forward for EU Balkan policy

Risk of instability in the Western Balkans: the EU can no longer 'wait-and-see'.

Dealing with Yanukovych’s Ukraine

The Yanukovych Paradox: How Ukraine’s new president can be good news for Europe after all.

China shapes its post-crisis economic agenda

The latest issue of China Analysis looks at Beijing’s willingness to strengthen international economic governance, and its authors argue that much thinking in China seems to focus on the short term

China and India: rivals always, partners sometimes

The authors of the latest issue of China Analysis argue that Western concerns over “Chindia” - the emergence of a Sino-Indian economic power bloc or strategic alliance - may be unwarranted. 

Towards a post-American Europe: A Power Audit of EU-US Relations by Nick Witney & Jeremy Shapiro

Europe has the US president it wished for, but does Barack Obama have the strong transatlantic partner he wants?

Can the EU rebuild failing states? A review of Europe’s civilian capacities.

Have broken promises and treating Afghanistan, DR Congo and Iraq like Bosnia left the EU without the capacity to prevent fragile states from becoming failing states?

What does Russia think?

ECFR publishes a collection of views from key Russian intellectuals.

The EU and human rights at the UN: 2009 annual review

The EU’s ongoing loss of influence at the UN is putting lives at risk, argues the author of ECFR’s latest paper.

In the Press

Les Echos - 01 Sep 10

Thomas Klau on Germany’s linchpin role in the eurozone governance debate.

Wall Street Journal - 30 Aug 10

Ulrike Guerot on Germany's place in Europe, post euro crisis.

Radio Free Europe - 24 Aug 10

Andrew Wilson says Ukraine's greatest success has been its 'survival'.

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