Will China deliver? China’s next decade and the consequences for Europe: Final Conference – EuroHub4Sino

The EuroHub4Sino Final Conference is designed as the project’s culminating moment to convene its diverse target audiences—researchers, EU and Member State officials, journalists, businesspeople, and civil society representatives—and to take stock of three years of work on contemporary China. As the project closes, the conference offers an opportunity to consolidate the EuroHub4Sino network, present the now fully operational EH4S platform, and translate nearly 50 papers and six workshops into a forward-looking conversation on where China is heading and what this means for Europe.

The conference organises this conversation around four panels examining whether China is on track to achieve the advances and transitions its leaders have set out for the coming decade—and what the consequences, whether successes or setbacks, will be for Europe and the wider international order. The panels look in turn at the prospects for Chinese leadership in science, technology, and the environment; the implications of China’s evolving security and defence posture, and for whom; the contest over a new global order; and the domestic dynamics that will shape whether the Party can deliver on its goals.

Across these four lenses, the event will explore questions such as:

• Where is China likely to succeed in the next decade, and where will it fall short?
• What do these trajectories mean for European interests, partnerships, and policy choices?
• How should European researchers, officials, businesses, and civil society organisations adapt their engagement strategies in light of these expected changes?

As with all EH4S events, the format is designed to foster dialogue rather than long-form addresses. Our “conversation starters” will offer brief, sharp interventions to open each panel, followed by tightly moderated discussions in which all participants are encouraged to contribute. The aim is to maximise exchange across sectors and disciplines—conversations that begin in the conference room and continue well beyond it.

The conference will also include a live demonstration of the EH4S platform and an invitation for participants to register, contribute, and become active members of the EuroHub4Sino community.

Program:

09:00 – 09:30 Registration

09:30 – 09:45 Welcome & Keynote

09:45 – 11:00 P1: Future Chinese Leadership? Science, Technology & Environment

Marcin Grabowski, Associate Professor, Jagiellonian University
Belinda Uebler, PhD Researcher, Heidelberg University
Javier Borràs, Research Fellow, CIDOB
James Kynge, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House
Zhu Yi (Moderator), PhD, Heidelberg University

• How to pave and support our way into technologies of the future – those unknown yet?
• Challenges and Opportunities of China to be the technological leader of the future.
• China as climate leader?
• China as champion in renewable energies vs future relevance of Chinese coal-industry?

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee

11:15 – 12:30 P2: (In)Security & Defence (For who?)

Niklas Swanström, Executive Director, Institute for Security & Development Policy
Simone Dossi, Associate Professor, University of Milan
EEAS Official (TBC)
Maud Descamps (Moderator), Research Fellow, Institute for Security & Development Policy

• How do domestic pressures inside China affect Beijing’s external security behaviour and military posture?
• To what extent can Xi Jinping’s vision of building a “world-class military” by 2049 be achieved under an increasingly centralised political system, and do repeated purges within the PLA strengthen Party control at the expense of military effectiveness?
• How does Xi Jinping’s tightening of Party control over the PLA shape China’s strategic ambitions and military preparedness for a potential Taiwan contingency, and what are the implications?
• What is the direction of China’s military modernization?

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 14:45 P3: Towards a New Global Order?

Jeremy Garlick, Associate Professor, Prague University of Economics & Business
Zhao Huanyu, PostDoc Researcher, Ghent University (Scientific Manager, ReConnect China)
Emilian Kavalski, Professor, Tampere University
Weronika Krupa (Moderator), Researcher, Jagiellonian University

• How are China’s attempts at global governance reforms going to change the international order?
• How will China global norm contestation with the United States affect Europe?
• Will China’s alternative global governance institutions replace the existing ones (such as G7) or work alongside them?
• Is BRICS going to be a threat to the rules-based order or a complement to it?

14:45 – 15:00 Coffee

15:00 – 16:15 P4: Domestic Dynamics: Can the Party Achieve its goals?

Shaun Breslin, Professor, The University of Warwick
Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House
Cho Khong, Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

• Will the economic transition that China’s leaders are trying to engineer create more political problems for them than solutions?
• What will China after Xi Jinping look like ?
• What will China’s leaders need to do if they are to make the transition to an economy based on “New Quality Productive Forces”? Is such a transition really feasible ?

16:15 – 16:25 Portal Demo

16:25 – 16:30 Closing Remarks