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June 25, 2010, Paris.
Annual seminar on Chinese Contemporary Politics.
The goal of this seminar is to go beyond traditional approaches to the study of China’s national security policy, which tend to focus on the questions of sovereignty and territorial integrity, through a realist analytical framework emphasizing military capabilities and strategic intentions. Western studies on China’s national security policy often focus on the modernisation process of the People’s Liberation Army. However, since the end of the Cold War and as a result of its active and ever-growing participation in globalized economic and social networks, China has experienced the emergence of new threats, such that do not directly affect its territorial integrity and do not necessarily call for military responses. Chinese scholars have written extensively on these threats, but most of their works remain untranslated. Some of these threats (such as organized crime) are local and involve a coordinated response between central and local authorities, while others (such as terrorism, climate change, or macroeconomic stability) require a multilateral response to be coordinated on a global scale. During the seminar, the participants will explore these “non-traditional” threats through four perspectives: the perceptions in China, the integration of these new threats into China’s national security policy, the implications for China’s security diplomacy at a regional and global level, and last but not least, the issue of the most pertinent level of analysis to study China’s national security policy.
Information / registration: contact@centreasia.org
May 21, 2010, Paris.
Annual Seminar of Asia Centre Southeast Asia Observatory
Within the last decade, China has given a decisive impulse to its “new” diplomatic policy and has developed close partnerships with selected countries or regions. Due to geographical proximity, historical links and strategic reasons (be they either raw materials, markets, political or security rapprochement), Southeast Asia has been one of the targets of this “smile diplomacy” and “charm offensive”.
China’s relations with Southeast Asia offer an interesting study case since it not only deepens our understanding of a new pattern for regional relations but also because it may announce and reveal the way and mode Beijing favours to enhance its global diplomacy. The “win/win” formula Beijing has actively promoted since 1997 might need some further analysis and nuance to separate the short-term public relations campaign from concrete actions on the field. In its quest for “harmony” and a peaceful environment, China is alternating soft power tools with authoritative pressure in what could be interpreted as a calculated ambiguity.
If asymmetry has always been a character (and the rule) of this secular relation and poses no particular concern for Southeast Asia, the way China manages it in a context of globalization might cause further concern and present new challenges to established norms of governance. What do we learn from the evolution of this relation? What does it announce for worldwide balances and international practices?
The conference will feature three workshops - security, soft power and political stakes - which would comprehensively seek to address the main facets and themes influencing the relation. From concrete and recent examples and observations, the presentations and debates will explore the implications of this partnership for the coherence of Southeast Asia and its ability to shape Chinese diplomatic choices.
General Welcome
François Godement, Asia Centre at Sciences Po
3 workshops: security, soft power and political stakes
Security: more than a good neighbour policy?
- China’s naval pressure in the South China Sea
(Ralf Emmers, Rajaratnam School of international Studies, Singapore)
- China’s military cooperation with Southeast Asian States: a challenge to the traditional US alliance
(Ian Storey, ISEAS, Singapore)
- China / Myanmar security relations: India and Southeast Asia at risk?
(Niklas Swanstrom, Institute for Security and Development, Stockholm)
- China and nuclear proliferation in Southeast and East Asia: what is at stake?
(Chin-Hao Huang, SIPRI, Stockholm)
Soft power: the Chinese art of persuasion
- China’s grand Strategy of peaceful rise in Southeast Asia: a test for China’s world wide status?
(Victor Teo, Hong-Kong University)
- China, Southeast Asia and the New Regional Order
(Christopher Dent, University of Leeds)
- The new wave of Chinese Diasporas in Southeast Asia
(Koh Keng-We, Ohio University)
Political Stakes
- Parties’ relations with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos: still the big brother or rather the patron?
(Olivier Hensengerth, German Development Institute, Bonn)
- A political reading of China’s initiatives with ASEAN: more than economics? What implications for Japan?
(Dirk Nabers, University of Stuttgart)
- China’s “enlighted authoritarianism” and Southeast Asia
(Sophie Boisseau du Rocher, Asia Centre)
Conclusion
Mathieu Duchâtel, Asia Centre
“The Chinese promise, Southeast Asia’s choice and international balances“
Annual Seminar of Asia Centre Southeast Asia Observatory Speakers, 21 may 2010" title="April 28-29, 2010, Beijing.
Asia Centre and the European Union, in cooperation with the Euro-China Clean Energy Center (EC2) are organizing in Beijing a two-day seminar on Smart Grid technologies in China and Europe, which will take place on 28th and 29th April at EC2, Tsinghua University.
This seminar is sponsored by ABB, AFD, EDF and Schneider Electric, with CVA as associate organizing institution and European Chamber of Commerce in China's support.
This seminar give a special emphasis to demonstrate the EU commitment in China to work on smart grids. To that end, the European Commission is bringing its highest support through the mere presence of the Commissioner for Energy, Mr Oettinger to this conference. Other European specialists from various countries will also join the conference.
The objective of this seminar is to come up with a better understanding of the European and China’s “smart grid” plans and investments (definition, scope, implementation) while covering the main issues induced along the value chain (connection of renewables, storage technologies, “smart dispatching” systems, roll out of the UHV network, demand-side management, electric vehicles).
This seminar is the first event hosted by EC2, a new research center launched on April 30th by Mr. José-Manuel Barroso and Mr. Zhang Guobao.
Information: t.voita@centreasia.org
Friday 23rd October 2009
This seminar took place at Madariaga foundation, College of Europe, Brussels Schuman.
The seminar was a trilateral brainstorming workshop for officials and academics form the EU, China and Africa. It aimed at deepening mutual understanding between the three stakeholders in order to identify concrete path for common action with a focus on the energy and health sector.
Information – Elodie René e.rene@centreasia.org
Thursday 15th October 2009
Asia Centre at Sciences Po and the European Climate Foundation jointly organised a briefing to discuss new findings and share insights with experts about China’s low carbon transition and its global implications
Information – Pierre Fauquet p.fauquet@centreasia.org
Friday, 12 June 2009
« Religion, societies and power in Southeast Asia: The democratization test ». This international seminar,
organised with the support of the French Ministry of Defence (Délégation aux Affaires Stratégiques), will focus on the (deep or superficial) influence of religious beliefs on political transitions in Southeast Asia, on the (possible) religious legitimacy of secular powers, on the impact of religious tensions or convergences on regional / transnational relations - seem to need a fresh analysis after the events of the recent years (among others, the 2001 terrorist attacks and its impact on Southeast Asian muslim communities, the “monks” riots in Burma, the links between monarchy and Buddhism in Thailand, the new use of Islam as a political stake either in Malaysia or in Indonesia, the religious roots of Indian anger in Malaysia, the resort to the support of the catholic church by political actors in the Philippines…). To what extent and how religious actors, organizations and beliefs influence the political culture and affect the process of democratization if any and if it does? To what extent are they (still) instrumental in implementing or discouraging the democratic transition? With Sophie Boisseau du Rocher, Asia Centre, Paris) ; Joern Dosch, University of Leeds, Leeds); Stéphane Dovert (founder of IRASEC, Bangkok) ; Alain Forest (CNRS, Paris) ; Surat Horachaikul, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok) ; Claude Levenson (Paris) ; Maszlee Malik (University of Durnham) ; Duncan Mccargo (University of Leeds) ; Fahimul Quadir (York University, Canada).
Information - Philippe Maupai p.maupai@centreasia.org
Friday, 26 june 2009
On Friday, June 26, 2009, Asia Centre at Sciences Po will hold its annual seminar on Chinese Contemporary Politics, with the support of the Delegation for Policy and Strategic Affairs of the French Ministry of Defence. Chine-India relations have been characterized on the one hand by mutual suspicion on strategic intents and military build-up, unresolved territorial issues, geopolitical moves to contain each other and economic competition. On the other hand, the bilateral relationship has improved since the late 1980’s. Strategic rivalry has been managed to avoid overt conflict against a background of booming economic and trade relations and the rise of the two Asian giants. Throughout this seminar, we will try to assess the current trends of the bilateral relationship in the new international context in 2009, in the midst of a global financial crisis and changes in the US global strategy. With François Godement (Asia Centre, Director) ; Jonathan Holslag (Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies) ; Ma Jiali (China Institute of Contemporary International Relations) ; Patrick Messerlin (SciencesPo, Groupe d’économie mondiale) ; Isabelle Milbert (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) ; Jean-Luc Racine (Asia Centre, Associate Researcher, EHESS, research director) ; Isabelle Saint-Mézard (MoD, Delegation for Policy and Strategic Affairs) ; Vijay Sakhuja (Center for Air Power studies, New Delhi)
Information - Mathieu Duchâtel m.duchatel@centreasia.org
This « second-track » dialogue was launched in September 2006, in Beijing, by Asia Centre and the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). After a second session in Paris in 2007, this third session was organised in Beijing with the support of the Policy Planning Staff (Centre d’analyse et de prévision) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the participation of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
The meeting took place at the end of a year that has experienced ups and downs in the Sino-European relationship as a senior Chinese participant remarked. One of the European organisers of the conference also underlined that, as the relationship goes up, it naturally experienced more problems. This strategic dialogue therefore aims at matching European and Chinese points of views, as the relationship between the EU and China cannot be reduced to its economic and trade dimension but also needs a political mutual comprehension.
On June 27, 2008, Asia Centre held its annual seminar on Chinese Contemporary Politics at Sciences Po, Paris. More than five years after Hu Jintao was elected secretary general of the CCP, it is time for a preliminary assessment of his first mandate at the head of the Party and the State. In the aftermath of the 16th Party Congress in October 2002, he was viewed as a weak leader. His power was to be consolidated in almost every meaningful decision-making body within the Party. His agenda in terms of political reform and national strategy lacked transparency. This conference will tackle two main issues: Hu Jintao’s strategies to meet domestic and international challenges to the CCP’s power and legitimacy, and the changes introduced by the fourth generation of Chinese leaders in terms of decision-making. A group of scholars from Asia, the US, Europe and France (see below) has been working on the matter since last year and the seminar will be the occasion to make collective sense of their findings and to assess five years of politics in China under Hu Jintao.
Informations: m.duchatel@centreasia.org
Participants:
Stéphanie Balme is a senior research fellow at Sciences Po, Paris, based at the Law School of Tsinghua University, Beijing, where she is currently visiting professor. She has co-directed the Sciences Po Vietnam study group and has been a research associate and professor at the Department of Government and Public Administration of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her latest publications include: co-edited with Michael Dowdle, Constitutionalism and judicial power in China, Palgrave-Macmillan CERI, 2008. Co-edited with Daniel Sabbagh Chine/ Etats-Unis : fascination et rivalités, Autrement-CERI, 2008. She received her Ph.D in political science from Sciences Po, Paris.
Richard Baum is professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles and director emeritus of the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies. He has written and edited nine books, including Burying Mao: Chinese Politics in the Age of Deng Xiaoping (1996) and Reform and Reaction in Post-Mao China: The Road to Tiananmen (1991). His latest book, China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom, will be published in 2009. Dr. Baum is the founder and list manager of Chinapol, an online discussion group for professional China analysts. He has served on the editorial boards of the leading journals in Chinese and East Asian Studies, and is a frequent commentator for CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America and BBC World Service. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan is an associate researcher to Asia Centre and a senior researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research. He currently heads the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. From 1998 to 2003, he was Director of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (Centre d'études français sur la Chine contemporaine, CEFC) in Hong Kong and chief editor of Perspectives chinoises and China Perspectives. From 1994 to 1998, he was Director of the Taipei Office of the CEFC. His most recent publications include Chine-Taiwan: la guerre est-elle concevable? La sécurité extérieure de Taiwan face à la menace de la Chine populaire, Paris, Economica, 2003; (with Benoît Vermander) La Chine et ses frontières. La confrontation Chine-Taiwan, Paris, Presses des Sciences Po, 2005, translated and published in Chinese as a special issue of the journal Renlai (Taipei), January 2007. He has also published numerous articles and contributions in English on China's political system and reform, Chinese law, the relations across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwanese politics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
Chien-min Chao is vice-director of the Foundation on International and Cross-strait Studies (FICS) in Taiwan, and professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies at National Chengchi University, Taipei. He received his Ph.D from Southern Illinois University.
Wu-yue Chang is professor at Tamkang University Institute for Mainland China Studies, Taiwan. He received his Ph.D from National Chengchi University.
François Godement is President of Asia Centre and professor at Sciences Po, Paris. He is also the founder and former director of Centre Asie at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Paris (1985-2005). He helped found the European committee of CSCAP (Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific) which he chairs, and is a cofounder of CAEC (Council for Asia-Europe Cooperation). A consultant to the Policy planning staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he specialized in East Asian international relations and strategy, regional integration and Chinese contemporary affairs. François Godement is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d’Ulm (Paris), where he majored in history.
Karl Hallding heads Stockholm Environment Institute’s China Program and has followed and worked with China’s environment since the mid-1980s. He was the main author of UNDP’s China Human Development Report 2002, “Making Green Development a Choice” and participated in the expert team behind the 2007 OECD Environmental Performance Review of China, where he was responsible for drafting the chapter on “Environmental – Social Interface”. Mr Hallding is currently working with the China 50 Economist Forum on the China Economics of Climate Change Initiative, and is preparing a paper on China’s Climate and Energy Politics for the Swedish prime ministers office.
Heike Holbig is a senior research fellow at the German Institute of Global Studies (GIGA) Institute of Asian Studies, working in the field of China’s domestic politics. She is also the co-editor of China Aktuell – Journal of Current Chinese Affairs published by GIGA Institute of Asian Studies. She
holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from Heidelberg University. Recent publications include „The Emergence of the Campaign to Open Up the West: Ideological formation, central decision-making, and the role of the provinces”, China Quarterly, no. 178, June 2004, and “Ideological Reform
and Political Legitimacy in China: Challenges in the Post-Jiang Era”, in: Heberer, Thomas and Schubert, Gunter (eds) Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China: Institutional Change and Stability, London, Routledge, forthcoming August 2008.
Cheng Li is Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center. He is also the William R. Kenan Professor of Government at Hamilton College. He received his Ph.D from Princeton University. Dr. Li’s publications include Rediscovering China: Dynamics and Dilemmas of Reform (1997), China’s Leaders: The New Generation (2001), Bridging Minds across the Pacific: U.S.-China Educational Exchanges (2005), and China’s Changing Political Landscape: Prospects for Democracy (2008). He is currently completing a book manuscript on Urban Subcultures in Shanghai.
Cheng-kun Ma is an Associate Professor at the Institute of PLA Research, National Defense University, Republic of China (Taiwan). He has received his Ph.D. in China’s war behavior study at National Taiwan University, and has specialized in PLA affairs. His representative articles are “China’s security strategy and military development” and “China’s three warfares against Taiwan.” He publishes a monthly newsletter on Chinese military affairs, “PLA News Analysis, PNA”.
Thibaud Voïta is a research fellow at Asia Centre and a Ph.D candidate at Sciences Po, Paris. Currently in Beijing to conduct his field work and Asia Centre’s projects, his research deals with central and local government economic relations, with a special interest in transportation and energy sectors.
14 June 2007, Paris. Asia Centre, Paris / U. of Haifa, Israel. This dialogue with Israeli experts of China was a wide-ranging examination of China’s strategies and military-related development. Given its situation in the heart of the Middle East, Israel pays very close attention to the increasingly diversified relations that China has developed with all the states of the region. These relations have been given a great impetus by Beijing’s growing external dependence on hydrocarbons. These issues were discussed with Yitzhak Shichor and Yoram Evron (U. of Haifa) and G. Wacker (DGAP), and put in the context of China’s foreign policy and the major international questions concerning the country.
Since 1993, CSCAP’s achievements in the area of preventive diplomacy have been noteworthy, owing to the efforts of six working groups focused on: maritime security; countering the proliferation of WMD; multilateral security frameworks in Northeast Asia; the prevention of human trafficking; peacekeeping; and energy security. In the context of the overall progress made within the CSCAP, the achievements of the first two working groups should be singled out.
25th and 26th Meetings of the Steering Committee
Kuala Lumpur 29 May 2006, Wellington 14 Dec. 2006. These meetings are important both for setting CSCAP’s development (determination of the major themes and subjects, analysis of proposed recommendations) and for the informal debates and discussions that take place on the sidelines and enable a better evaluation of the main trends in relation to regional security concerns.
F. Godement and K. von Hoesslin (researcher at the York Centre for International Security Studies & UN World Maritime U.) in turn represented the EUCSCAP at these meetings...
MARITIME SECURITY [CSCAP working group]
The aims of the working group (set in Kunming, Dec. 2004) are: to consider maritime capacity, identify the requirements for implementation of processes for cooperation in the region, analyse the inadequacies and deficiencies of the agreements currently in place, and draft concrete proposals of relevance to the ministers concerned. Since 2005, this working group, co-chaired by S. Bateman (Australia) and P. Das (India), has met three times to consider the subject "Capacity building for maritime cooperation" (New Delhi and Singapore in 2005, Kuala Lumpur on 27-28 May 2006). The mandate of the working group was extended in Wellington on 16-17 Dec. 2006, to include "The role of maritime security forces" and it approved an action plan for the ARF: "Maritime knowledge and awareness, the basic foundations of maritime security cooperation in Asia Pacific".
S. Boisseau du Rocher has participated in the group’s work since its inception and in the work of a subgroup (with Chinese and New Zealand representatives) focused on issues of awareness-raising in relation to maritime concerns; K. von Hoesslin similarly contributes his expertise by participating regularly in this working group for CSCAP Europe.
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION - WMD [CSCAP working group]
This working group, chaired by Brad Glosserman (CSIS), aims at redefining security standards in relation to non-proliferation by close monitoring of the international system. Since 2005, it has met five times to produce final recommendations for the ARF: "An Asia Pacific handbook and action plan to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in Asia Pacific". In parallel, a subgroup on the monitoring of arms exports met for the second time in Beijing on 11 and 12 May 2006.
CSCAP Europe is active in this working group, through the participation of F. Umbach (DGAP), co-chair of CSCAP Europe, and B. Sitt (CESIM). T. de Champchesnel (CESIM) and D. Santoro (Macquarie U.) also take in the working group meetings through the "Young Leaders" program, an initiative of the Pacific Forum (CSIS) in close liaison with this working group. With the participation of approximately twenty young researchers and practitioners, this program promotes an exchange and dialogue amongst young professionals who are well-equipped in the field.
3rd meeting of the working group
26-27 Mar. 2006, Singapore. The agenda covered the following subjects: the global non-proliferation regime; nuclear energy and non-proliferation: what risks?; the PSI; the six-party talks and North Korea; and an Action Plan for non-proliferation in East Asia.
4th meeting of the working group
27-29 Nov. 2006, Danang. Thirty experts continued their work through in-depth sessions on: the global non-proliferation regime; regional problems and challenges; the PSI; developments in the Korean peninsula.
[Coordination of the workshop of the Reseau Asie’s 3rd Congress – IMASIE]
28-30 Sept. 2005. While the ASEAN is broadening the scope of its dialogue, the political and economic centre of gravity of East Asia has gradually shifted towards China (Free Trade Agreements and Strategic Dialogue). However, the role played by China is not the only factor at work in this shift and the trend is not as clear as Beijing would like us to believe.The purpose of this workshop was to analyse the parameters that will influence the organisation of the region and lead China either to come to an arrangement with its partners or to jeopardize the emergence of a structured region.
La Chine et le Japon: des concurrents pour un “hégémon régional”? Premiers jalons pour une approche en EPI de l’Asie Orientale [China and Japan: Rivals for “Regional Hegemony”? First Steps towards an IPE Approach in East Asia], by C. Figuière and L. Guilhot (U. Pierre Mendès France – Grenoble II) / Les perspectives d’intégration économique en Asie de l’est sous l’influence de la Chine [Perpsectives for Economic Integration in East Asia under China’s Influence], by F. Nicolas (U. of Marne-la-Vallée) / Réorganisations régionales en Asie orientale: Peut-on parler de regionalisation ? [Regional Reorganisation in East Asia: To what extent is it a Regionalisation Process?] by S. Boisseau du Rocher / Intégration régionale en Asie et montée en puissance de la Chine: Perspective japonaise [Regional Integration in Asia and the Rise of China. A Japanese Perspective], by G. Delamotte.