The EU-China Relationship in the Age of Trumpian Disruption, with Finbarr Bermingham of the SCMP

This week on Sinica, I chat with SCMP Senior Europe Correspondent Finbarr Bermingham, who joins from Brussels where he's been covering the EU-China relationship in fantastic depth and with great insight. 3:17 – EU-China relations in early 2025: the effect of the 2021 sanctions, who advocated for engagement versus confrontation with China, and the importance of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) 13:49 – How Brussels initially reacted to the rupture in the transatlantic alliance  17:14 – China’s so-called charm offensive  21:03 – The idea of de-risking from Washington  23:10 – The impact of the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky  24:55 – Europe’s dual-track approach with China and shift toward pragmatism  29:35 – National interests versus EU unity regarding Chinese investment, and whether Brussels could extract concessions  35:20 – Brussels’ worry over Trump cutting a deal with China  38:06 – Possible signs of China’s flexibility on different issues 40:25 – The lifting of the sanctions on European parliamentarians  42:21 – The decrease in calls for values-based diplomacy, and whether securitization is happening in Europe 47:05 – How the EU might address tensions over China’s industrial overcapacity  50:17 – The possible future of EU-China relations, and whether the transatlantic relationship could go back to normal 55:50 – The knee-jerk element of looking past Europe Paying It Forward: Ji Siqi at SCMP, Cissy Zhou at Nikkei, and Kinling Lo and Viola Zhou at Rest of World Recommendations: Finbarr: The Stakeknife podcast series; Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe; and the 20th anniversary edition of Wilco’s album, A Ghost Is Born  Kaiser: The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs by Marc David Baer  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Om Podcasten

A weekly discussion of current affairs in China with journalists, writers, academics, policymakers, business people and anyone with something compelling to say about the country that's reshaping the world. Hosted by Kaiser Kuo.