Articles
Written by RISAP’s team of researchers and analysts
China’s EU Sanctions Are the Latest Proof: Beijing Doesn’t Understand Democracies
This week, in an act of tit-for-tat after the European Union imposed sanctions on Chinese officials involved in Xinjiang human rights abuses, China imposed its own sanctions on five Members of the European Parliament [...]
Romania is closing the door to public tenders for Chinese companies
Last week, the Romanian government announced that it intends to ban Chinese companies from participating in public infrastructure tenders, which was coincidentally followed by a wave of restrictions for Chinese companies in Central and [...]
The China challenge will be Joe Biden’s greatest legacy
Joe Biden will soon return to the White House, this time as President of the United States. Once inaugurated, the most important challenge he will face, the one that could leave the deepest legacy, for [...]
Romania-South Korea relations: A strategic partnership in progress
In 2020, Andreea Zaharia, associate researcher at RISAP, participated in the pan-European research project Mapping Out EU-South Korea Relations: Key Member States’ Perspectives. The project was implemented by the KF-VUB Korea Chair of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel [...]
Testimony before the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) on the Belt and Road Initiative and China-EU relations
On November 9, the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament organized a hearing on EU-China Trade and Investment Relations in a post-covid world. Andreea Brînză, Vice President of RISAP, was one of [...]
Under Trump, the US Strategy for Countering China Is Mimicking China
More than 70 years ago, when the United States was facing the threat of Soviet Communism, George Kennan advised the U.S. to be the best it can be, in order to attract other countries [...]
How Cernavodă Made Romania a Key Geopolitical Battleground in Europe
In 2013, after the then-16+1 summit in Bucharest, Romania was bombarded with gushing headlines about a dozen Chinese investments and projects that would soon supercharge the Romanian economy, with the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant [...]
China doesn’t understand democracy and the rule of law
China’s wolf warrior diplomacy might have had an active year, but China’s foreign relations are on the wrong track. One often overlooked reason for this is China’s limited understanding of how democracy, rule of [...]
No, China Doesn’t Think Decades Ahead in Its Diplomacy
It’s difficult to think of a more famous piece of off-the-mark but still common wisdom about China than the idea that China’s government thinks and plans in generations, decades, or centuries, acting in its [...]
The U.S. Needs An Endgame Before It Plunges Into the Next Cold War
The U.S. government has decided it is time to confront the People’s Republic of China, leading to what some have called “a new cold war” or the more benign and official “great-power competition.” But [...]
An ambitious European China strategy needs a vision, new tools and more resources
In designing a coherent, goal-driven, long-term China strategy, Europe should be ambitious, even if achieving its goals will be difficult. This will require vision, but also new tools and resources, which Europe now lacks. [...]
Designing an ambitious and coherent European China strategy without full unity
The initial plan for the Leipzig Summit between China and the European Union featured all the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member states meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The [...]
There can be no European China strategy without an end goal
From Paris to Riga, there are calls for a new European approach towards China. All over Europe, there is pressure for national governments and the European Union to adopt a more robust and assertive China [...]
Europe needs a coherent, goal-driven, long-term China strategy
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel, on behalf of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, together with the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, will have a virtual [...]
China Doesn’t Understand Europe, and It Shows
Some years ago, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang showed a fondness for referencing popular American television shows including “Game of Thrones” and “House of Cards.” While they seen to display a [...]
Turning to the United States won’t help India against China
Not long after the deadly border clash in June between China and India, observers were trying to ascertain the geopolitical consequences of the incident. Many focussed on how the clash would drive India closer [...]
Who will be China’s next Premier?
Who would have imagined street stalls could grab so much attention in China? Premier Li Keqiang’s comments about expanding street stalls to promote employment and the apparent pushback by Xi Jinping’s allies against his [...]
Without rule of law, China risks becoming the lonely tech superpower
Huawei has steadily emerged as a 5G pioneer, showing how a Chinese company can become a global heavyweight. Yet it has also become a different kind of pioneer: the first victim of a [...]
The world is falling for China’s Hong Kong trap
The Chinese leadership’s decision to introduce national security legislation in Hong Kong has attracted global attention and condemnation. This move was unsurprising, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying to tighten [...]
Central and Eastern Europe is not in bed with China
If you ask three experts from the United States, China, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) about China-CEE relations, you will receive three different answers. While the Chinese might say that relations are [...]