Panel Discussion: Understanding China in Multilateralism

China has become a major player in international cooperation. Not only its economic power, but also its political and cultural influence as well as its value system is increasingly visible on the multilateral stage. This panel discussion will address the question of how international institutions like the UN and multilateral organisations such as the EU interact with China and what we can expect from China’s role within multilateralism in the future.

Speakers: 

Pascal Nufer works for Switzerland’s public broadcaster „Swiss radio and TV broadcasting company“ Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF). For five years, until 2019, he worked as SRF East Asia correspondent based in Shanghai. Before, he worked as a freelancer for SRF, the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), and the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) based in Bangkok. During his 25-year career as journalist, he has reported for more than fifteen years from Asia, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia and North Korea. Pascal is the author of the book Faszination China – Mythen, Macht und Menschen, published last July.

www.pascalnufer.ch

Yuka Kobayashi (LL.B Kyoto, MPhil, DPhil Oxon) is Lecturer/Assistant Professor in China and International Politics at SOAS, University of London, and Visiting Research Professor at Nankai University (China) and Visiting Scholar at the World Trade Organizaton (WTO). Prior to joining SOAS, she was a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. After receiving a LL.B. (specialisation in Public International Law) from Kyoto University, she studied Mandarin and Chinese International Politics at Nankai University and then obtained her M.Phil. and D.Phil. at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include International Relations of China, International Law, Trade and Investment (Belt and Road Initiative/WTO/FDI), Human Rights and Climate Change/Energy. She has advised various governments, think-tanks and international organisations on these subjects.

http://www.yukakobayashi.net

Richard Javad Heydarian is an Asia-based academic and policy adviser. He is a Professorial Chairholder in geopolitics at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and has delivered lectures at the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia universities, and previously was a Visiting Fellow at National Chengchi University (Taiwan), and an Assistant Professor in political science at De La Salle University. As a columnist, he has written for the world’s leading publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, and is a regular contributor to Aljazeera English, Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post, and the Straits Times. He has written extensively on Philippine politics, populism and Asian affairs. He is also a regular contributor to leading global think tanks such as Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Brooking Institution, and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).