China’s rise is most manifest in its ‘opening and reform’ since 1978 with rapid economic growth propelling it to become the world’s second largest economic power in 2010. However, the world today is engulfed in a geopolitical polycrisis, and the parameters of the economic relationship with China is being debated around the globe; ‘de-risking’ has emerged as the preferred approach for many countries’ economic strategies vis-à-vis China. How do we make sense of China’s economic and trade diplomacy? How has China been negotiating its economic engagement with the world? This talk will grapple with these questions through the lens of China’s bilateral and multilateral engagements.

Dr Lucie Qian Xia is a Departmental Lecturer in the Politics and International Relations of China. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, and previously taught Chinese diplomacy and global governance at Sciences Po Paris and was the postdoctoral China Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to academia, she worked at the Delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing and the UN Representation Office to the EU in Brussels.

Dr Lucie Qian Xia’s first book, The Diplomatic Making of EU-China Relations: Structure, Substance and Style (Routledge, 2023), introduces a novel theoretical model of diplomatic relationship-building that brings to the fore the more nuanced and latent factors to make sense of EU-China diplomatic relationship-building, and sheds light on the opportunities and challenges in enhancing EU-China relations.