On Saturday, the 10th of October 2020, we held our first webinar. Antonio José Pagán Sánchez (PhD Candidate in International Relations at Nankai University & City University of Hong Kong) analysed the position adopted by the five largest economies of Western Europe - Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain - in the context of the increasing rivalry between the United States and China. The webinar aims to shed light on the factors behind Western Europe´s response to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the adoption of Huawei´s 5G technology and the debate on whether or not to consider China a security threat within NATO´s framework. Occasionally and in certain circumstances, the five countries preferred to engage with China in spite of their American ally's concerns, whereas in other cases they implement foreign policy similar to Washington's. The factors behind this duality might have a long-lasting effect, not only on the transatlantic alliance, but also on the international leadership of the United States. The participants were very engaged during the event and asked insightful questions on a variety of topics, namely: the Spanish approach to China, the implications of the US elections on EU-China relations, the priority the EU should focus on in order to have a unified voice on China, and cooperation in the area of space exploration...
You can watch it again on our YouTube channel.