After decades of a foreign policy of non-interference, China has undergone a paradigm shift in its thinking, spurred by two motives: the wish to build its reputation as a good global citizen, and the wish to protect its interests overseas. However, the evolution in China’s concept of non-interference remains a tricky issue for Beijing, as it has traditional reservations about the use of force – both for ideological reasons, and out of risk aversion. How is the protection of Chinese nationals overseas changing Chinese foreign policy? How is China meeting the challenge to protect both its investments and the lives of its Chinese nationals based overseas, such as in Africa?
We invite Mathieu Duchâtel, Senior Policy Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia & China programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) to discuss.
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Mathieu Duchâtel
Before joining ECFR in November 2015, Mathieu Duchâtel was Senior Researcher and the Representative in Beijing of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2011-2015), Research Fellow with Asia Centre in Paris (2007-2011) and Associate Researcher based in Taipei with Asia Centre (2004-2007). He holds a Ph.D in political science from the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po, Paris). He has spent a total of nine years in Shanghai (Fudan University), Taipei (National Chengchi University) and Beijing and has been visiting scholar at the School of International Studies of Peking University in 2011/2012 and the Japan Institute of International Affairs in 2015. Based in the Paris office of the ECFR, Duchâtel works on Asian security, with a focus on maritime affairs, the Korean peninsula, China’s foreign policy and EU-China relation.


