This episode explores illusions about China’s ambitions related to expanding military and economic power. How have such illusions been perpetuated by Germans and Europeans in order to maintain profit for companies? And what does a realistic assessment of China’s current ambitions of global economic dominance, military might and technological supremacy, mean for the recalibration of European political, economic and security options?
Guest featured in this episode:
Janka Oertel heads the Asia program at Europe’s leading think tank, the European Council of Foreign Relations. Based in Berlin, Janka Oertel previously worked as senior fellow in the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund where her main areas of interest were Trans-Atlantic China policy, Chinese foreign policy, and security in the region. Her publications have dealt with EU-China relations, U.S.-China relations, security in the Asia Pacific, Chinese foreign policy, and climate cooperation. She has testified on EU-China relations before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also the German Parliament. With 15 years of scholarship on China, Janka can be understood as one of the best-known experts on the topic in Germany and Europe. However, she understands herself as an observer of China as it is impossible to be an expert on the country given the size and complexity of the People’s Republic.
Her powerful and highly readable book in German titled “The End of the China Illusion“is published today. It makes a compelling argument to cast aside the blinkers that have shaped German and European treatment of China as a partner in business, trade and technology, more recently also, in combating climate change.
