The Club of Three and LSE Ideas held a fourth joint webinar in September 2021 to conclude a series of discussions on Europe and the Indo-Pacific.
This event, which took place shortly after the announcement of the AUKUS agreement between the United States, Australia, and the UK, built on previous discussions on Europe and the Indo-Pacific and explored whether there is scope for Europe and China to identify areas of geopolitical cooperation at a time of growing tension and strategic competition.
The discussion was chaired by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference and member of the Club of Three’s steering group. It involved some 45 senior figures from business, politics, diplomacy, academia and the media in France, Germany, the UK, as well as China.
The three main speakers were:
*Professor Lanxin Xiang, Director of the Institute of Security Policy at the China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation (CNISCO), based in the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law
*Sylvie Bermann, French diplomat; Chair of the supervisory board, Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence (IHEDN); French Ambassador to China (2011-2014), the UK (2014-2017) and Russia (2017-2019)
*Nicola Casarini, Senior Fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva; Non-resident Global Fellow at the Wilson Centre in Washington D.C.
Participants included: Sir Richard Barrons (Commander, Joint Forces Command UK, 2013-16); Reinhard Bütikofer (Chair, European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China); Patrick Horgan (Director Global Government Relations, Rolls Royce); Philippe Le Corre (Senior Fellow Asia, Harvard Kennedy School); Giles Montagnon (Political Counsellor, British embassy in Beijing); May-Britt Stumbaum (Head of NFG Research Group “Asian Perceptions of the EU”, Free University of Berlin); Lord Powell of Bayswater (Board member, LVMH); Nigel Inkster (Senior Adviser, IISS); Michael Schaefer (Chairman, BMW Foundation, 2013-20); Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Visiting Professor, King’s College London); Arron Newble (Strategy Directorate, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office).