From August 31 until September 1, China’s party and state leader Xi Jinping will chair the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city Tianjin. Among the leaders expected at the summit is Russian president Vladimir Putin. In a new episode of our podcast, MERICS Analyst Claus Soong explores the role of the group in China-Russia relations. He argues that the SCO, which has significantly widened its mandate since it was founded in 2001 as a regional forum for security issues, has become a prototype for Beijing and Moscow to institutionalize their coordination on geopolitical affairs and promote their own narratives as an alternative to the Western-led global order. 

Recommended reading:

• China and Russia are using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to push alternative global order, MERICS Comment by Claus Soong
• China-Russia Dashboard: Facts and figures on a special relationship

Biotechnology is strategically important because of its potential to transform humanity’s control over nature. Governments worldwide are racing to secure their positions in the field – and China is no exception. 

MERICS experts Alexander Brown and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau join Johannes Heller-John to discuss the rise of China in biotechnology. They are the authors of the report “Lab leader, market ascender: China's rise in biotechnology”, published earlier this year. Research for the report is part of the MERICS China Tech Observatory (CTO), a project funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under funding reference number 01DO24001.

In this episode, long-time Financial Times journalist and former MERICS Senior Fellow James Kynge joins Johannes Heller-John to look at China’s technological development in the last decades and ahead into the next ones. He talks about his work as a journalist in China since the mid-1980s and China’s rise as a technological power. James argues that “China is now leading the world as a technological power, having surpassed the US and left Europe far behind.”

More about the topics covered in this episode here:

• Streets ahead: China is winning the technology war with the US (The Observer)
• Global Tech Wars: China’s Race to Dominate (Pushkin)

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the way we live and work, and its potential use in military applications could alter the global balance of power. The Chinese Communist Party is taking note of this development. During a Politburo study session focused on AI in April, China’s party and state leader Xi Jinping urged a nationwide mobilization to achieve “self-reliance and self-strengthening” in AI. 

Wendy Chang and Antonia Hmaidi – analysts in the Science, Technology and Innovation Program at MERICS – join Johannes Heller-John to assess China’s aims and progress on its self-sufficiency drive in AI. Together with Rebecca Arcesati, Antonia and Wendy have authored our new report “China’s drive toward self-reliance in artificial intelligence: from chips to large language models”. Research for the report is part of the MERICS China Tech Observatory (CTO), a project funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under funding reference number 01DO24001.

More about the topics covered in this episode here:

• “China’s drive toward self-reliance in artificial intelligence: from chips to large language models,” MERICS Report by Wendy Chang, Rebecca Arcesati and Antonia Hmaidi
• DeepSeek and the upcoming AI Action Summit, MERICS Podcast with Rebecca Arcesati
• More China Tech Observatory analyses on Artificial Intelligence

„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und Claudia Wessling über aktuelle Entwicklungen in China. 

In dieser Folge geht es um die Beziehungen zwischen China und der EU im Licht der Europareise des chinesischen Außenministers Wang Yi und vor dem EU-China Gipfel in Beijing, um Xi Jinpings Abwesenheit auf dem BRICS-Gipfel und um Chinas wachsende Fähigkeiten in Künstlicher Intelligenz.

Die Experten sehen in Chinas Austausch mit Europa „kein Angebot für eine Partnerschaft auf Augenhöhe, sondern eine geopolitische Aufforderung, sich den Realitäten anzupassen.“ Für Europa bedeutet das, dass es sich strategisch notwendig machen muss „und dafür braucht 

Mehr über die Themen in dieser Ausgabe erfahren Sie hier:

• Medizintechnik + Handelsspannungen vor EU-China-Gipfel + BRICS, MERICS China Essentials

The next EU-China Summit will take place in Beijing at the end of this month. In this episode of our podcast, Abigaël Vasselier, Director of Policy and European Affairs and Head of Program for Foreign Relations at MERICS, joins Claudia Wessling, Director Communications and Publications, to talk about her expectations for the summit, the state of EU-China relations and outcomes of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent visit to Europe.

With an uncertain geopolitical environment and ongoing competition with the US and Europe, national security has become even more important than before in China. So much so that a National Security White Paper, the first of its kind, was published in May of 2025.

How has China’s approach to security changed under the changing international environment? What new risks does the paper identify domestically and internationally? And what implications does it have for Europe? In this episode Katja Drinhausen, Head of Program Politics and Society at MERICS, and Helena Legarda, Lead Analyst at MERICS, join Johannes Heller-John to answer these questions.

Read more about the topics covered in this episode here:

• MERICS China Security and Risk Tracker 01/2025

„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und Claudia Wessling über aktuelle Entwicklungen in China. 

In dieser Folge geht es um die Eskalation zwischen dem Iran und Israel und wie Chinas Reaktionen darauf einzuschätzen sind, um die Forschungsinvestitionen des chinesischen Telekom Riesen Huawei sowie um die EU-chinesischen Beziehungen. 

Mehr über die Themen in dieser Ausgabe erfahren Sie hier:

• Iran-China- Beziehungen + China senkt Zölle für afrikanische Länder + Roboter für die Altenpflege | Merics China Essentials

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is widening its influence over private companies. Since Xi Jinping took office as party and state leader, the CCP has increased its control over the private economy by guiding capital, controlling shares and engaging in corporate governance. 

In this episode, Kasper Ingeman Beck, Postdoc at the Copenhagen Business School, and Nis Grünberg, Lead Analyst at MERICS, join Johannes Heller-John to discuss the role of the CCP in the private sector and what it means for decision makers in Europe.

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This podcast is part of the project “Dealing with a Resurgent China” (DWARC) which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101061700.

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Chinese outbound foreign direct investment in the EU and UK rose for the first time in 2024 after seven consecutive years of decline. In this episode we look at what has changed, where the money is going, and what is happening in the particularly important sector of electric vehicles.

Armand Meyer, Senior Research Analyst with Rhodium Group’s China Data Services team, and Andreas Mischer, Analyst with the Economics team at MERICS, are co-authors of a recent report on Chinese FDI in Europe, published by Rhodium Group and MERICS. They share its results with Johannes Heller-John.