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Thursday, February 18 2021, 12.30 p.m. CET

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For China, the global financial crisis in 2007/8 can be considered as the starting point of a “world in turmoil”. In light of the failing of Western capitalist systems, China began to rethink its own role in the world. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, a new ambitious domestic and global agenda was formulated. China no longer needed to “keep a low profile” (taoguang yanghui). With the Belt and Road Initiative, it demonstrated that it had something to offer to the world. The Chinese leadership saw an opportunity to improve its role in international institutions and shape the international order to make it more compatible with China’s needs. The growing rivalry with the United States during the Trump presidency was seen as proof that the US tried to contain China’s rise, while the US withdrawal from international organisations created more space for China to amplify its voice and promote its own narratives, including on the pandemic.

Dr. Gudrun Wacker is at present Senior Fellow in the Asia Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP) in Berlin, a think tank providing political advice to the German government and parliament. Her research focuses on Chinese foreign and security policy, especially EU-China relations, China and the Asia-Pacific region and security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific more generally. She is currently an EU delegate to the Experts and Eminent Persons Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum.