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How should Europe deal with an assertive China?

ECFR, in cooperation with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, gathered a group of 27 experts and officials working on Sino-European relations for a workshop in Brussels yesterday afternoon. The event "How to deal with an assertive China" attracted Directors of Asia-Pacific departments and policy planning staff from European Ministries of Foreign Affairs, key officials from the European Commission and Council of the EU as well as top experts from Beijing, London, New York and Paris.

The event was opened by a captivating intervention from Columbia University's Prof. Andrew Nathan on the topic of "The implications of China's domestic governance for foreign partners". A series of timely debates followed on from this and were introduced by the likes of ECFR Senior Policy Fellow and Director of the Asia Centre at Sciences-Po François Godement, Franz Jessen from the Directorate General External Relations of the European Commission and Paul Jean-Ortiz from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Participants engaged in lively and open discussions on the topics of "dealing with an assertive China" and how to gain EU leverage and also looked into the specific case study of nuclear proliferation and Iran. There was an overall agreement that the EU needs to be more assertive and consistent in pursuing European interests, and that it must strengthen its bargaining position towards China. A senior European policy maker indeed described this challenge as the "ultimate Lisbon test".