8th November 2005

China-EU summit tackles thorny issue of human rights

A major conference, attended by the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Prescott MP and State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan bringing together key players from the EU and China today debated China's relations with countries who abuse human rights and break international law. The conference, organised by the Foreign Policy Centre, the Centre for European Reform and the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences was held during the state visit of the Chinese Premier, Hu Jintao.

STEPHEN TWIGG, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre today said:

"China's relationship with countries such as Sudan, Iran and Zimbabwe are a worrying example of a government putting the national interest of obtaining oil ahead of the protection of human rights and the non-proliferation of WMD.

"The fact that Sudan has abused human rights in Darfur and elsewhere; Zimbabwe has systematically attacked its own citizens; and Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons while saying 'Israel should be wiped off the map' suggests that China is on very weak ground in its support for such regimes.

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7th November 2005

2005 could be seen as first year of US-China cold war

On the eve of the state visit of the Chinese Premier, Mr Hu Jintao, STEPHEN TWIGG, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre, today said:

"There is a growing risk of a new cold war between the US and China, if tensions are not averted."

"The recent slide in relations between the two countries has set alarm bells ringing amongst moderates on both sides. There is a growing risk of a descent into open geo-political rivalry. This would affect everything from global free trade to the proliferation of WMD.

Download the press release (20 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The EU and China must turn talk of a 'strategic partnership' into action, by identifying concrete areas for cooperation on pressing global issues, from energy and climate change to weapons proliferation and genocide.

On 18-20 May 2005 the FPC and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), in association with the FPC's partners, Accenture, the Corporation of London and the Centre for European Reform (CER), will host the first Unofficial EU-China Summit in Beijing. This aims to create a 'second track' process for discussion and shape a concrete agenda for joint action, in advance of the official EU-China summit due to be held in late 2005 under the UK presidency of the EU.

Download the press release (60 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

By Dick Leonard.

This year's EU-China summit, scheduled for 8-9 September, in Helsinki, may well see a determined effort from the EU side to put the relationship on a new footing. Both trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, and his external relations colleague, Benita Waldner-Ferrero, have been conducting fundamental policy reviews which are likely to lead to a proposal to replace the 1985 agreement, which has hitherto governed relations between the two sides.

Full text 

By Seema Desai. Source: OpenDemocracy

China's membership of the G8 could be the emerging superpower's next step, but will it be enough to save the

body from irrelevance?

Download The Next Long March (40 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

By Seema Desai. Source: The Foreign Policy Centre

China and India are frequently mentioned in the same sentence, but little of the frenzied analysis of their phenomenal growth dwells long on how improved relations between these two long hostile countries might add to this. The state visit to New Delhi this month by the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, is probably one of the most significant diplomatic events of the decade so far for India; while in China it was billed as the most important landmark of the year. Yet the potential implications for the global economic and political system are greater still. Closer Sino-Indian economic cooperation would impact greatly on both the developed and developing worlds.

Full text 

Joshua Cooper Ramo

Supported by Hill & Knowlton

February 2007 £9.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download Brand China (260 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

In this new report, from the author of the widely discussed paper 'The Beijing Consensus', Ramo argues that China's national image, and the misalignment between China's image of itself and how it is viewed by the rest of the world, may be its greatest strategic threat. It argues that alongside its other reforms, China needs a 'fifth transition' if the trust and understanding necessary for the next stage of its development are to be achieved.

For press enquiries, call 020 7729 7566 or 07830 195 812.

This paper has been kindly supported by Hill & Knowlton.

Christopher J Forster

April 2006 £9.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download China's Secret Weapon (320 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Preface by Lord Charles Powell of Bayswater

The Wall Street Journal reported recently how foreign-invested R&D centres in China have almost quadrupled to 750 over the last four years. The Foreign Policy Centre report bears this out with statistics showing that China is now ranked third in the world for total R&D spending. It estimates that by 2010 China will have the same number of science and engineering graduates as the United States. The idea that China is a sweat-shop economy is very dated. Instead it is a growing challenge to the previously comfortable technological lead of the Western countries.

Further information 

Andrew Small

November 2005 £4.95, plus £1 p+p.

Download Preventing the Next Cold War (360 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

2005 has seen the emergence of political dynamics and shifts in thinking in both Washington and Beijing that risk tipping US-China relations over into a state of open geopolitical rivalry unless there are concerted attempts at conflict prevention.

Further information 

Date: Wednesday 7th May 2008, 3-5pm

Speakers:

•Salvatore Gabola, Director of Global Stakeholder Relations, The Coca-Cola Company

•Liza Lort-Phillips, Associate Director, Corporate Citizenship

•Graham Baxter, Director,Responsible Business Solutions International Business Leaders Forum(IBLF)

•Sumi Dhanarajan, Co-head,Private Sector Team, Policy Department Oxfam

The Foreign Policy Centre, in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain, presented the third seminar in the 'CSR in Emerging Markets' series on Wed 7 May at Portcullis House. The seminar examined CSR in emerging markets with a focus on marketplace practices, including issues such as consumer relations, ethical trade and responsible investment, and wealth creation. The speakers explored these themes from both business and civil society perspectives.

This event was held in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain

Download Invitation (90 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Date: Monday 10th March 2008, 3pm to 5pm

Venue: Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Bridge Street, London, SW1A 2LW

Speakers:

• Salvatore Gabola, Director of Worldwide Stakeholder Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
• Daniel Graymore, Team Leader, Business Alliance Team, Department for International Development
• Daniel Litvin, Director, Critical Resource Strategy & Analysis
• Stephen Twigg (Chair), Director, The Foreign Policy Centre

About this event:

At this event, the Foreign Policy Centre launched a major project on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in emerging markets in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain. The project will explore the role of multinational corporations' CSR practices in emerging markets in the areas of labour standards, marketplace practices, and the environment. With an initial background paper, this launch seminar reviewed recent trends in multinationals' CSR practices, defined the latest debate on CSR, and established the context for the following three seminars which will form part of this project.

This event was held in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain.

Download the initial background paper (140 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Date: Tuesday 26th February 2008

Speakers:

• Mark Leonard, Author "What Does China Think?"
• Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister for Africa, Asia & the UN, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• Professor Zheng Yongnian, China Policy Institute, Nottingham University
• Gideon Rachman, The Financial Times

About this event:

In his new book "What Does China Think?", which was published by Fourth Estate on 18 February, Mark Leonard introduces us to the thinkers shaping China's future, and opens up a hidden world of intellectual debate that could change our world. We know all about the statistics of China's rise – dizzying growth rates, vast currency reserves, new cities built every week. But have heard very little about China as a powerhouse of ideas about politics, economics and world order.

Leonard reveals a Chinese model of Globalisation that could re-shape the face of Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. He shows how experiments with focus groups and opinion polls are changing China from a traditional authoritarian state to a new 'deliberative dictatorship'. And he reveals how Beijing hopes to use a "China Dream" to challenge America's military power. What does China Think? charts the development of a Chinese worldview and portrays the factions battling for influence.

This event was held in association with The Fabian Society and the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Between 14th and 16th December, the Foreign Policy Centre hosted the visit of Mr Zheng Bijian, Chairman of the China Reform Forum and Mr Li Junru, Vice President of the Central Party School, for a programme of meetings with leading UK politicians, officials, business people, journalists and thinkers. Sessions included a speech, held with the 48 Group in association with the Centre for European Reform and Standard Chartered, on 'China's peaceful rise', meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister, senior Downing Street, Treasury and FCO officials, the Shadow Foreign Secretary and the Lord Mayor, and a special hearing of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Zheng Bijian is the former Executive Vice-President of the Central Party School of the CPC, the thinker behind 'China's peaceful rise' theory and a close associate of President Hu Jintao.

Download Zheng Bijian Speech, 'Ten Points of View' (120 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Foreign Policy Centre and Centre for European Reform

The Foreign Policy Centre, in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the CER, hosted a half-day seminar in London to coincide with the State visit of Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China. Leading the final discussions of the day, Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan and British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott emphasised both the impressive deepening of ties between the United Kingdom and China and the potential for more extensive future cooperation in tackling key global issues, including climate change and energy consumption.

A group of leading intellectuals from CASS engaged in open and spirited discussion with a broad field of British and European thinkers, business people and policymakers on issues ranging from Iran to the G8, from energy security to global economic balances.

The concept of 'Third Way' has been in existence for a long time, but was revitalised in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States and Britain, forming the basis of modernisation of the Democratic and Labour parties. The advance of global markets and the knowledge economy are transforming the economic landscape across the world, generating new challenges for states to combine economic dynamism with social stability.

On 28 June 2005 the Foreign Policy Centre hosted a seminar on New Labour's Third Way philosophy of governance, and its relevance to party reform in China. This was attended by senior members of the CCP, key figures from the Prime Minister's Office, and leading academics on the Third Way and Social Democracy.

In a lively atmosphere New Labour's link between social justice and market mechanisms were discussed. Changes in Britain's social fabric, New Labours' organisational structure and electoral strategy were also examined.

The seminar forms part of FPC's high-profile programme of work on China which has included organising an unofficial summit in Beijing in May 2005 which investigated ways of strengthening the EU-China strategic partnership. Accenture is the Principal Sponsor of FPC's China project.

Mapping Chinese Visions of Their Future in the World

Overview

In May 2004, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) launched a new programme of research, publications, forums and public discussions on China. The programme aims to engage a broader group of actors with emerging new thinking on the social and economic consequences of globalisation on China and the impact of the rising Chinese economy on the future of globalisation.

Further information 

Download the programme prospectus (390 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)