In February, the Club of Three held a webinar on Europe and China with a particular focus on their respective infrastructure development schemes, the EU’s Global Gateway announced in December 2021 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The discussion, chaired by Club of Three Chairman Michael Maclay, involved some 30 senior figures from business, politics, diplomacy, academia and the media in France, Germany, the UK and China.
It explored the potential reach and benefits of Global Gateway in regions like Asia and Africa, as well as other areas in which it could be expected to compete with or complement the BRI. Could Global Gateway achieve tangible results and help strengthen Europe’s influence in these regions? How far could the BRI offer the opportunity for co-operation with Western initiatives rather than confrontation?
The main speakers were:
Romana Vlahutin, EU Special Envoy and Ambassador at Large for Connectivity, European External Action Service; EU Ambassador to Albania (2014-2018); Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Croatia (2010-2014). Political Director of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (2006-2007)
Professor Lanxin Xiang, Director, Strategic Compass Dialogues (EU-China), Schuman Center, European University Institute, Florence; Director, Institute of Security Policy, the China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation (CNISCO), Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. He previously led the Centre of One Belt and One Road Studies which has now been incorporated in the CNISCO
Participants included: Zha Daojiong (Professor of International Political Economy, Peking University); Norbert Röttgen (German MP, CDU, and President of the Club of Three); Katie Lee (Senior Advisor, China Affairs, HSBC); Jonathan Bewes (Vice-Chairman, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bank); Jean-Francois Dufour (Director, DCA Chine Analyse, France); Andrei Lungu (President, Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific); Douglas McWilliams (Deputy Chairman, Centre for Economics and Business Research); Michael Schaefer (German Ambassador to China, 2007-13); Professor Tomohiko Taniguchi (Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University); George Tzogopoulos (Founder, China and Greece, and Senior Research Fellow, Centre International de Formation Européenne)