Europe China Forum 2026

Hongjian Cui is the Director of the Center for European Union and Regional Development Studies in Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). He is also both Director of the Academic Committee and Professor at the Academy of Regional & Global Governance, focusing on International Politics, Regional Governance, Foreign Policy and European Affairs. Previously, Cui was senior research fellow and Director of the European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. Prior to this, he served as a senior diplomat in Chinese Missions abroad.

Stefano Grassi is Director for External Relations at the European Commission’s Secretariat-General. With over two decades of experience in EU institutions, he has held senior positions spanning foreign policy, energy and institutional coordination. Grassi served as Head of Cabinet to Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, overseeing the EU’s response to the energy crisis and its external energy relations. Previously, he was Head of Cabinet to High Representative Federica Mogherini and an adviser to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Grassi also contributed to Mario Monti’s 2010 report on the future of the Single Market.

Xia “Ben” Hu is Assistant Director and Lead Scientist at Shanghai AI Laboratory. Previously, he was Full Professor, and Director of the Data Science Institute, at Rice University, USA, and co-founder of AI POW LLC. Dedicated to machine learning and AI research, Hu has published over 200 papers in top conferences and journals like ICLR, NeurIPS and KDD, with over 45,000 citations. His leading works include AutoKeras (a top AutoML framework), NCF algorithm (officially recommended by TensorFlow, single paper cited over 10,000 times), and anomaly detection systems used by NVIDIA, Apple and more.

Feng Jiang is Professor of European Studies and Chairman of the Board of the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies at Shanghai International Studies University. He also serves as a member of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, the president of the Shanghai Area Studies Association, and a member of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council. Jiang previously served as Minister Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Germany. Earlier, he served at the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, where he was responsible for shaping international education policy. Jiang’s research focuses on Germany and Europe.

Christian Kastrop is President and CEO of the Global Solutions Initiative, an international platform promoting solutions to global economic and governance challenges. He previously served as State Secretary for Digital Society and Consumer Protection at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection Earlier, Kastrop held senior positions at the OECD, including Director of Policy Studies in its Economics Department, and led the Europe’s Future programme at the Bertelsmann Stiftung. He also served in senior roles at the German Federal Ministry of Finance and chaired the EU Economic Policy Committee.

Pascal Lamy is a French politician and the Vice President of the Paris Peace Forum, a new innovative global governance initiative. He served as the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for two consecutive terms, prior to which he was the European commissioner for trade and head of cabinet for former Commission president, Jacques Delors. Currently an associate professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, Lamy also frequently lectures at the Institut Jacques Delors and speaks on issues related to globalisation, global governance, international trade, international economics and regional integration. He has written several publications on the European Union and the ‘harmonising’ of globalisation and is a Trustee of Friends of Europe.

Jing Men is the Jean Monnet Chair and Director of the Centre for European Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai, where she is also Zijiang Distinguished Professor. Previously, Men served as the Baillet Latour Chair of EU–China Relations and Director of the EU–China Research Centre at the College of Europe. She has authored and edited six books in English, three of which have been translated into Chinese, and has guest-edited three special issues of international academic journals.

Geneviève Pons is President and Director General of Europe Jacques Delors, a Brussels-based think tank advancing European integration and sustainability. She previously served in the Cabinet of European Commission President Jacques Delors, where she was responsible for environmental and climate. An Honorary Director of the European Commission, Pons subsequently held senior positions including Director of the Legal Service at the International Labour Organization and Director of WWF’s European Office. She is a leading advocate for ocean protection and sustainable development, co-chairing the Antarctica2030 coalition alongside Pascal Lamy. Pons is also a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

Chenghao Sun is Senior Fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University. At the university he also heads the US-Europe programme of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS). His research focuses on China-U.S. relations, transatlantic relations, AI and International security. He is a member of Munich Young Leaders with Munich Security Conference, a previous visiting scholar at Yale Law School and was visiting fellow at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, fellow at Arms Control Negotiation Academy and fellow at Singapore-China Young Professors Network. Sun has been in the Top 1% Highly Cited Scholar in China according to China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).

Gunnar Wiegand is a Visiting Distinguished Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a Senior Adviser at the European Policy Centre.  He formerly served as Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS), shaping EU relations with China, India and the wider Indo-Pacific. Previously, Weigand was EEAS Director for Russia, the Eastern Partnership and Central Asia, following several senior positions at the European Commission. He also teaches at the College of Europe and Sciences Po Paris.

Haitao Wu is Vice President of the China Public Diplomacy Association. He previously served as Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Spain and concurrently Ambassador to the Principality of Andorra; Ambassador at the Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations; Coordinator for Cyber Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Deputy Representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland and Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs; and Deputy Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.