MERICS China Podcast

As tensions are increasing in the Indo-Pacific, the EU is exploring ways to contribute to the security framework in the region. In doing so, the bloc has to navigate the complex dynamics between its ambitions and capabilities as well as reactions from both China and like-minded partners. But what exactly is the EU’s objective in the security realm and can it achieve it?

In this episode, we talk to Helena Legarda Senior Analyst at MERICS, who is an expert on Chinas defense and foreign policy and its geopolitical impact. She is also the lead author of MERICS China Security and Risk Tracker.

The conversation covers a range of security issues including the EU’s capability to project power in the Indo-Pacific, China’s reactions to French and German military operations in the region and much more.

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If you are interested in our research on EU-China topics subscribe to our biweekly MERICS Europe China 360° brief.

Over the course of the past weeks, the EU’s agenda was filled with Indo-Pacific related developments ranging from the successful release of the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy to shock linked to the cancellation of the French military sale to Australia and the announcement of the AUKUS alliance.

In this episode, we talk with Mr. Gunnar Wiegand, the Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service, an institute at the forefront of the EU’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific region and China.

The conversation touches on a range of strategic issues related to the EU’s ambitions and capabilities in the region, EU-China relations in the Indo-Pacific, EU-Taiwan ties and transatlantic cooperation.

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If you are interested in our research on EU-China topics you may want to subscribe to our biweekly MERICS Europe China 360° Brief.

China’s real estate giant Evergrande has been making headlines for a while now. Having accumulated more than 300 billion USD in debt, Evergrande – one of the largest property developers on earth – is at the brink of collapse. On Monday, trading of Evergrande’s shares was suspended on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The week before, it missed a key bond interest payment. What has caused this pressure on Evergrande? What consequences would an insolvency entail for China’s real estate and financial markets? What kind of toolkit does the Chinese government now have at its disposal to manage the situation? In this podcast, MERICS Director Communications and Publications Claudia Wessling talks with Victor Shih of UC San Diego. He is an expert on Chinese banking and fiscal policies and has recently published an edited book titled “Economic Shocks and Authoritarian Stability.”  

On September 26, Germany held its first election in 16 years without Angela Merkel. Her party, the Christian Democratic (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) suffered great losses, receiving only 24.1 percent of the votes. The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) won by a small margin with 25.7 percent. The Green Party (14.8 percent) and the Liberals (FDP, 11.5 percent) will now play a crucial role in forming a coalition. Both, an SPD-led government under chancellor Olaf Scholz, and a CDU/CSU government with Armin Laschet as chancellor, are theoretically possible.

While the parties are beginning to explore common ground to build a coalition, our MERICS podcast takes a first look at how the new German government might shape its China policy. Both the FDP and the Greens adopt more critical approaches to China than those of the outgoing chancellor Merkel, who mainly focused on fostering economic collaboration between the two countries. MERICS Senior Fellow Ariane Reimers, a German TV journalist and former correspondent in China, talks to MERICS Communications Director Claudia Wessling about her analysis of party manifestos and recent political statements. Her take: We can expect to see some changes, but there will be no radical departure from former policies.

Deutschland hat gewählt. Unter einer neuen Bundesregierung könnte sich auch in der deutschen China-Politik einiges ändern. Angela Merkel verfolgte einen vor allem auf Kooperation gerichteten Ansatz. Doch wie stehen die Parteien, die bald über Koalitionsoptionen verhandeln, zu China? FDP und Grüne, die vermutlich Juniorpartner in der künftigen Regierung sein werden, stehen durchaus für kritischere Ansätze. Doch werden sie sich durchsetzen? Und wie wirkt sich das alles auf die China-Politik der EU aus, auch im Verhältnis zu den USA? Zu Gast im MERICS Podcast ist MERICS Senior Policy Fellow Ariane Reimers, ehemals ARD-Korrespondentin in China und im Hauptstadtstudio. Mit Reimers sprach Claudia Wessling, Leiterin Kommunikation und Publikationen bei MERICS.  

While the importance of politics over economics has always been a key feature of China's economic system, many observers say that there has been a paradigm shift in how the CCP governs China’s economy today. This new model is often described as party-state capitalism.   

To get a clearer picture of this new form of economic governance that is emerging in China, Johannes Heller-John is joined by Nis Grünberg, Senior Analyst at MERICS. Nis is the editor and one of the authors of the MERICS Paper on China on the “CCP’s next century”. Read his chapter on "Party-state capitalism under Xi: integrating political control and economic efficiency".

The dire situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover continues to make headlines, and the question has emerged whether China is the big winner of the US withdrawal from the country. In this episode of the MERICS China podcast Raffaello Pantucci, Singapore-based Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), explains that narratives of China winning in Afghanistan are exaggerated but that an outcome of the US withdrawal is increasing Beijing’s influence across the Central Asian region, where countries see China as an important, preeminent partner. Yet, he concludes, if Western actors work together there is still leeway for them to engage in the region.

China has been quick to signal its acceptance of renewed Taliban rule over Afghanistan, stating that it respects the quote, “the will and decision of the people of Afghanistan” on August 16 – one day after the Taliban leadership announced their victory in the presidential palace in Kabul.

What are China’s interests in Afghanistan? How do the new circumstances impact Xinjiang? And what can decisionmakers in Europe do? 

In our interview Angela Stanzel, associate researcher in the Asia division of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) shares her analysis. In her view China is mainly interested in protecting its own border. Beyond that, Stanzel does not expect China to offer Afghanistan significant security or economic cooperation.

China is radically changing the way it regulates data environments. With a new Data Security Law passed and a Personal Information Protection Law in the works, China is moving from a largely unregulated data environment to a highly regulated one.

Rebecca Arcesati and John Lee, Analyst and Senior Analyst at MERICS respectively, join the podcast to talk about the effects and implications of these laws as well as two recent publications on the evolving data governance regime in China, specifically on AI ethics and governance in China as well as China and the Internet of Things.

Die G7-, NATO- und EU-US-Gipfeltreffen im Juni haben gezeigt, wie wichtig das Thema China auch in den transatlantischen Beziehungen ist. Während die USA auf eine härtere Gangart gegenüber China drängen, tendiert zum Beispiel Deutschland zu einem weniger konfrontativen Ansatz. In dieser Folge des MERICS-Podcasts diskutiert Claudia Wessling, Leiterin Kommunikation und Publikationen, mit Jan Weidenfeld, Leiter Policy und Advisory bei MERICS. Jan ist einer der Autoren eines neuen Berichts der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz, der Aspen Strategy Group und von MERICS. Die Studie skizziert Prioritäten und gibt Empfehlungen für Strategien zur Gestaltung der transatlantischen China-Politik und ist online verfügbar unter: https://securityconference.org/en/publications/report-of-the-transatlantic-reflection-group-on-china/