ECFR Alumni · Director, Asia and China Programme
Senior Policy Fellow
Chinese and East Asian strategic and international affairs, issues of integration and conflicts
French, English, Mandarin
François Godement is the director of ECFR’s Asia & China programme and a senior policy fellow at ECFR. He is a non-resident senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., and an outside consultant for the Policy Planning Staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A long-time professor at France’s National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations and Sciences Po, he created Asia Centre IFRI at the Paris-based Institut Français des Relations Internationales (1985-2005). In 2005 he founded Asia Centre as an independent centre for research on Asian issues as they intersect global debates. He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d’Ulm (Paris), where he majored in history, and he was a postgraduate student at Harvard University. In 1995 he co-founded the European committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP), which he co-chaired until 2008. He has also been a member of the advisory board for the Europe China Academic Network (ECAN).
He is the editor of China Analysis, a quarterly analytical survey of Chinese news and debate published by ECFR. His recent publications include “China at the gates: A new power audit of EU-China relations” (Co-author: Abigael Vasselier, 2017), “Expanded ambitions, shrinking achievements: How China sees the global order” (2017), “Expanded ambitions, shrinking achievements: How China sees the global order” (2017), “China’s market economy status and the European interest” (2016), “Contemporary China: between Mao and Market” (2015).
He is also a frequent contributor to media and academic debates on Asia and China.
Could the dream of a “G3” between the EU, China and the US ever become a reality? Or will the EU remain in the sidelines? Francois Godement argues in a piece for Le Monde that to avoid irrelevance, the EU needs to decide what it wants from China. (article in French)
The internal Chinese response to the Copenhagen climate conference
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.
The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has created transport chaos, but the EU can lead the way in finding a trans-national solution to a cross-border crisis
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
“Whatever works”. Is this Obama’s key Asia policy?
There is one worrying element to Greece’s financial tragedy that people seem to have forgotten: Greece first turned to Beijing for help
Spain’s call for the EU to lift the arms embargo against China suffers from bad timing and blundering diplomacy
The latest issue of China Analysis looks at Beijing’s willingness to strengthen international economic governance
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
Introduction François Godement Developments in the digital and artificial intelligence arenas in China have attracted so much hype abroad that…
Four views from our authors on Chinese and Taiwanese views of the roots of Trump’s strategy and trade policy, and Chinese blind spots
China has already brought the world “Socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Will its next goal be a “United Nations with Chinese characteristics”?
Europeans should adopt more realist positions vis-à-vis China, to defend their own interests and urgently restore balance in the relationship
Pyongyang’s is prepared to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear strike against both military and civilian targets if it detects an imminent attack
Introduction Partnering with China on its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, also known as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI), is often like looking at…
Why China’s President has made Party discipline a centrepiece of his administration
Policy recommendations Stay true to the EU’s values In the current political climate of eroding values and principles, there are two temptations that EU member…
Chinese state-owned enterprise mergers raise fears of ‘too big to regulate’ companies
The latest edition of China Analysis assesses the growing relationship between Russia and China
This week, the EU reached a political agreement on a framework for screening foreign direct investment at unprecedented speed, and took a step forward in building trust
Italy's new coalition government is moving the country on the path to bankruptcy, causing Italy to look overseas at China for support in pressuring the EU to bail them out
As the trade war between China and the United States heats up, Europeans should think hard about who they turn to for assistance
The last ten days have been big for the EU and its partners in Asia, namely China and Japan. With EU-China and EU-Japan summits resulting in historic agreements, the EU is slowly strengthening its relationships with allies to the east.
Donald Trump’s attack on the international trading system is changing the EU's relationship with China
The agreement is a dead end sold as the road to denuclearisation and peace – and, as such, it beggars belief
Europe’s most useful role is to push for steady American policies. It is also to convince Iran that a compromise on missiles is in its own interest.
The four power audits show that Europeans, particularly when working together, retain the capacity to cooperate and compete effectively with all these powers. But they also show that, in each case, Europe is failing to do so.
North Korea is not yet denuclearized. To get there, China will have to play significant role in the negotiations.
The US protecting its own technology is not the same as a trade war. But were such a war to emerge, it may well be the apparently invulnerable Xi Jinping rather than the bullishly confident Donald Trump who finds his country worse off as a result
Indians are many, as are their demands, aspirations, and ideas
Mark Leonard speaks with Francois Godement and Jeremy Shapiro about what kind of leverage Europe can have over America and other great powers. And should…
A follow-up discussion to “China at the gates: A new power audit of EU – China relations” by François Godement & Abigaël Vasselier. Speaker is…
Mark Leonard speaks with Asli Aydıntaşbaş, Kadri Liik, François Godement and Jeremy Shapiro about Europe’s relations with the US, China, Russia and Turkey. The podcast…
Mark Leonard speaks to François Godement and Abigaël Vasselier from the ECFR Asia & China team to get their reactions to President Macron's recent visit…
Discussion avec Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, directeur du bureau de Paris de l'ECFR et François Godement, directeur du programme Asie de l'ECFR du 18/12/2017…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard discusses Trump's foreign policy and its global consequences with ECFR's research director, Jeremy Shapiro, ECFR's Russia expert, Kadri Liik and ECFR's…
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard discusses the major takeways from China’s 19th Party Congress with ECFR’s head of Asia & China programme François Godement and China…
Podcast du Black Coffee Morning “Le 19ème Congrès et la Chine de Xi Jinping” du 13/10/2017 animé par François Bougon, auteur du tout…
On June 8th 2017, ECFR'S Asia Program together with the EU-Japan Centre and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) organised a conference on the issue…
On June 8th 2017, ECFR'S Asia Program together with the EU-Japan Centre and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) organised a conference on the issue…
NBR, Institut Montaigne (IM), and ECFR partner for a joint virtual event to discuss China’s global digital strategy
Francois Godement quoted by Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias on Portugal and Spain's differences regarding the Chinese Belt & Road initiative.
François Godement is interviewed by Le Figaro regarding China-US relations
The book written by François Godement and Abigaël Vasselier “La Chine est aujourd'hui solidement ancrée en Europe” is quoted by Les Echos
François Godement is quoted by Les Grands Dossiers de Diplomatie regarding France's role in Asia
Director of the Asia & China programme François Godement quoted by the South China Morning Post on the new EU infrastructure fund rivalling China's Belt and Road Initiative