This even is hosted in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG).
The China-EU economic relationship is second largest in the world. A closer relationship between the two trading partners is seen by many as desirable – but there exists a plethora of risks and uncertainties, both economic and political. While the British government has championed the ‘golden era of relations’ between the UK and China, after Brexit a number of durable political obstacles stand in the way of closer ties between China and developed economies.
These challenges pose a number of important questions. What are the political factors in the economic relationship between the EU and China that help to explain the apparent stalling of the EU-China strategic partnership in policy terms? What is the potential for cooperation despite the obstacles which exist? Is China capable of the economic reform that might pave the way to closer partnership?
John Farnell will examine the political factors in the economic relationship between the European Union and China and analyse whether the promising potential for EU-China cooperation is being repeatedly undermined by political obstacles on both sides. Dissecting key policy areas such as trade, research and innovation, investment, and monetary affairs, he will offer a prognosis of how the EU-China relationship might develop over the coming years.
About the All Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG)
The All Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG) was established in 1997 to widen the parliamentary contribution to the UK-China bilateral relationship. Our mission is to ensure parliamentarians are kept well informed on China, and to act as a platform for discussions on all issues of importance to the UK-China relationship.
We invite John Farnell, Senior Adviser at the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels, and Academic Visitor at the China Centre, University of Oxford to discuss.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/edit?eid=32093264819
In Partnership With All Party Parliamentary China Group (APPCG)
John Farnell
John Farnell is currently an Academic Visitor at the China Centre, University of Oxford, and a Senior Adviser at the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels. He has recently co-authored a book, “The Politics of EU-China Economic Relations: an Uneasy Partnership” with Dr Paul Irwin Crookes of the China Centre, published by Palgrave MacMillan in September 2016.
John retired from the European Commission in 2012, where his last job was Director for International Affairs in the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry. He managed the Commission’s industrial policy dialogue with China between 2007 and 2012.
Educated at Cambridge University (MA, History) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc., International Relations), John worked for British Airways and the Confederation of British Industry before joining the Commission in 1975, dealing during his career with international trade, fisheries, the EU single market and industrial policy. He was also a member of the Commission’s Impact Assessment Board.
He has written books on British political institutions and the negotiation of the EU’s common fisheries policy. He was the EU Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, in 2011-2012 and Academic Visitor at the European Studies Centre at St Antony’s in 2016.
