MERICS China Podcast

Abigaël Vasselier, Director Policy & European Affairs at MERICS, just returned from a trip to Washington DC where she discussed transatlantic China policies with US counterparts. In this conversation with Claudia Wessling, MERICS Director of Communications & Publications, Abigael talks about the challenges that lie ahead for the EU in the coming months in managing its relations with China and the United States under President Donald Trump.

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.

China’s economy ended 2024 on a stronger-than-expected note. GDP expanded by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter, bringing full-year growth to five percent – exactly as forecasted by the Chinese leadership. This momentum gives the leadership a good position to face an uncertain 2025, but significant challenges remain. In this episode Johannes Heller-John talks to MERICS Chief Economist Max Zenglein about his takes on the state of China’s economy. MERICS Members can read the latest MERICS Economic Indicators for a more detailed analysis.

China is vying for leadership in quantum research and applications. But it is still early days, and front runners and technical approaches have not yet been consolidated. Johannes Heller-John talks to Antonia Hmaidi, Senior Analyst at MERICS and lead of the MERICS' data task force, and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau, Head of Program "Science, Technology and Innovation" at MERICS, about China’s race for quantum leadership.

Their most recent report “China’s long view on Quantum Tech has the US and the EU playing catch up” is part of the China Tech Observatory and sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Chinese history – while containing a wealth of cultural, scientific and social achievements – has always been deeply political: China’s emperors tasked scholars to rewrite the past and document the present to justify and glorify their rule. In today’s China, Xi Jinping has launched extraordinary efforts to “tell China’s story well”. In the final episode of 2024, Johannes Heller-John is joined by Daniel Leese, Professor of Sinology at the University of Freiburg, to talk about the politics of Chinese history. 

China’s dominance in industrial exports leads to an overestimation of its global role. This is the conclusion of a new report called: “China is the world’s factory – but less integrated into the global economy than the US and Japan”. Johannes Heller-John talks to the author, MERICS Senior Economist in the Brussels Office François Chimits, about the past and future of China’s global economic integration, the implications of global decoupling and its effects on Europe. In his view, “China’s economy remains more isolated than its manufacturing prowess suggests.”

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This podcast episode is part of the “Dealing with a Resurgent China” (DWARC) project, 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. 

After months of weak economic performance, Beijing has introduced a series of measures aimed at stabilizing the economy. They include a 10 trillion yuan local government debt restructuring package.

To shed light on the blatant levels of local government indebtedness, Claudia Wessling, Director Communications and Publications at MERICS, talks to Victor Shih and Max Zenglein. Victor is a professor of political science, director of the 21st Century China Center at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations at UC San Diego. Max is the Chief Economist at MERICS and the driving force behind the Economic Indicators, a quarterly series of analyses for MERICS members that puts China’s economic statistics into context. 

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This podcast episode is part of the “Dealing with a Resurgent China” (DWARC) project, 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. 

What will the renewed election of Donald Trump to the White House mean for the United States’ already complicated relations with China? How does China discuss Trump, both on an informal and expert level, but also in the official realm? And how does all of this concern the EU and member states?

To answer these questions Claudia Wessling, Director Communications and Publications at MERICS, talks to Jude Blanchette and Katja Drinhausen. Jude is one of the most outstanding US experts on China. He is the director of the RAND China Research Center and Distinguished Tang Chair in China Research at RAND. Previously, he held the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. Jude has written for a range of publications, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times. He also serves as a public intellectual fellow at the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

Katja is the Head of the MERICS program researching China’s politics and society. Her research focuses on the development of China’s legal and governance system. Katja is one lead researchers of “China Spektrum,” a joint research project with the China Institute of the University of Trier funded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The project analyzes expert and public debates in China. It was previously only available in German, but is now published in English as well.

For more on why China's experts are expecting prolonged US-China competition, check out our recent China Spektrum analysis on the topic. China Spektrum is a joint project of the China institute of the University of Trier (CIUT) and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). The project is made possible by a grant from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

Building resilience, i.e., the ability to manage risks without compromising long-term development, is at the heart of Europe’s adjustment of its China policy. To contribute to this process, we recently launched the MERICS Europe-China Resilience Audit, which is based on a database of 98 indicators for the economy, security, politics and society. The analysis confirms some significant differences between the eleven countries studied in terms of vulnerability and progress in measures to strengthen resilience towards China. Among the countries covered, Sweden and the Netherlands stand out for their resilience building.

In this episode of our podcast, project leads Grzegorz Stec and Helena Legarda explain the methodology of the index and discuss key findings from their analysis with MERICS Director Communications and Publications Claudia Wessling.

Beijing’s global push to establish a global network of ports with Chinese involvement is slowing. Today’s guests Clark Banach, Program Director at the Alethia Research Institution and former MERICS Futures Fellow, and Jacob Gunter, Lead Analyst at MERICS, discuss the development and changes in China’s global infrastructure investments. In this conversation with Johannes Heller-John, they analyze the aims Beijing wants to achieve by these investments and the impact of Chinese port investments on the European and global market.

You can find the interactive map mentioned in the podcast here.
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This podcast episode is part of the “Dealing with a Resurgent China” (DWARC) project, 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. 

The rivalry between the US and China about technological and military leadership has one key component: export controls.  What is the cutting edge of the United States’ export controls? What do they entail and what role do Washington’s international partners play? Can and will they be effective?

In this episode, MERICS Lead Analyst Rebecca Arcesati and Communications Manager Johannes Heller-John are joined by Kevin Wolf, a partner in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP’s international trade practice. From 2010 until 2017, he served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration in the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the US Department of Commerce and is a renowned expert on export controls.

You can find the report "Keeping value chains at home: How China controls foreign access to technology and what it means for Europe" on our website.