YCW Europe launch event: V4-China relations in the 2020s: Opportunities and Challenges
with Viktor Eszterhai (Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Budapest), Jakub Jakóbowski (Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw), Ivana Karásková (CHOICE & MapInfluenCE) and Richard Q. Turcsányi (Palacky University Olomouc)
Tuesday, 23 February, 2021
Start time:
• 6:00 pm (Brussels and Berlin)
• 5:00 pm (London)
Access via a virtual conference platform – details in an Eventbrite email shortly before the event
The ‘YCW Europe – V4 Series’ aims to give voice to the often overlooked Visegrád 4 countries in the discussion around China in Europe, and China’s influence more broadly in the Central Eastern European region. Despite often portrayed as China’s entry point to the EU, the four countries themselves have each faced a varied experience with Beijing, which is often misunderstood globally. The double aim of this series of panel discussions is to provide an opportunity for the broader audience to understand the perspective of V4 scholars and professionals working on China, and to enhance the understanding and cooperation between professionals, scholars, and students within the region, to strengthen the region’s China watching community.
Our launch event will discuss the present state of cooperation between the V4 countries and China, as well as map out the opportunities and challenges this decade can bring for these relations. Therefore, please join us for the first YCW Europe – V4 Series event, V4-China relations in the 2020s: Opportunities and Challenges, with esteemed scholars of the four countries. The questions will revolve around the benefits and pitfalls of cooperation with China, Beijing’s economic and political presence in the region, the region’s role in EU-China relations and the significance of the 17+1 Initiative.
RSVP VIA EVENTBRITE
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/v4-china-relations-in-the-2020s-opportunities-and-challenges-tickets-141743443455
SPEAKERS
• Viktor Eszterhai, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Budapest
• Jakub Jakobowski, Senior Fellow at the China Programme, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Warsaw
• Ivana Karásková, Founder of CHOICE & MapInfluenCE, and China Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO), Prague
• Richard Q. Turcsányi, Senior Researcher at Palacky University Olomouc, and Program Director at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), Bratislava.
MODERATOR
• Peter Boros, co-organizer of the V4 Series, and Instructor at Károli University, Budapest
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Viktor Eszterhai is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Budapest. In the past, he has been Senior Researcher at the Pallas Athene Geopolitical Research Institute, and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Geography, Geoeconomy and Sustainable Development at Corvinus University, Budapest. He holds a PhD from the Modern and Contemporary History Doctoral Program of Eötvös Loránd University; was a visiting senior researcher at Tsinghua University, and a visiting scholar at Fudan University. His main research areas are the cultural characteristics of Chinese foreign policy, the relationship between China and Europe, and non-western schools of International Relations.
Jakub Jakóbowski is the Coordinator of the Connectivity at Eurasia Project, as well as a Senior Fellow at the China Programme at the Centre for Eastern Studies, a public think-tank based in Warsaw. He specializes in China’s international political economy, CEE-China and EU-China relations. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), and lectures at the University of Warsaw and SGH. Between 2012-2015 he worked as an exports consultant for Polish small and medium-sized enterprises on the markets of Eastern Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Ivana Karásková is a China Research Fellow and Project Coordinator at the Association for International Affairs, in Prague, and the founder of MapInfluenCE, and China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe (CHOICE). Ivana focuses on conceptualization of influence, Chinese foreign and security policies, China’s presence in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds a PhD in International Relations from Charles University, where she has been a lecturer in China’s geopolitics and EU-China relations since 2014. Ivana completed research and study stays in China and Taiwan, and between 2009-2010 she was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University in New York. Moreover, she is a Czech member of the China expert pool at the Hybrid CoE in Helsinki and a European China Policy Fellow at MERICS in Berlin.
Richard Q. Turcsanyi is a Key Researcher at Palacky University Olomouc, Assistant Professor at Mendel University in Brno, and Program Director at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS). He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and further degrees in economy and political science. In past, he conducted long-term research stays at the University of Toronto, Peking University, National Chengchi University in Taipei, and the European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels. He is an author of “Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea” and has published a number of academic articles and opinion pieces on Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and (Central and Eastern) Europe. He is a member of various networks focusing on contemporary China and EU-China relations, including ETNC, CHERN, and CHOICE.
