Europe-China Forum: 50 Years of diplomacy – Advancing EU-China relations in an era of globalisation

Dr Cui Hongjian has long been engaged in research in international relations, European affairs and Chinese diplomacy. In his former role, Cui directed and oversaw all research projects of the Department of European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies. He has been associated with the CIIS for over two decades. Cui is also a Member of the China Economic and Social Council, Vice-President of the Council of the Chinese Association of European Studies and the Executive Director of the European Studies Center at the China Foundation for International Studies.

Jin Ling has considerable expertise in issues of EU integration and China-EU relations, and has published many papers in this regard. She has previously served as chair of a research project on China-EU-Africa relations, and since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, she has focused her research largely on this strategy. Her “Comparative Study between BRI and Marshall Plan” and “Synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and 2030 SDGs” publications have drawn wide attention among scholars from both in China and abroad.

Tomáš Petříček is a Senior Non-Residential Fellow at the Centre of Global Political Economy at the IIR in Prague. He is also the Director of the Progressive Analytical Centre, a Prague-based think tank, and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. He previously served as the Czech minister of foreign affairs. His research interests lie in the area of international political economy, new technologies and development, societal resilience, global environmental politics and climate diplomacy. 

Cai Run is the current Chinese Ambassador to the European Union. Previously, he held several posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including minister counsellor at the Embassy of China in the United States, Deputy director-general at the Policy Research Department, director-general at the Policy Planning Department, and ambassador of China to Portugal and Israel.  

John A Clarke is a Fellow at Maastricht University’s Institute of Globalisation, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and a member of the Travellers Club London and the Club Diplomatique de Belgique. Until earlier this year John was Director for International Trade negotiations at the European Commission, and is a former Head of the EU Delegation to the WTO and UN in Geneva.
Clarke was an official of the Hong Kong Government from 1983 to 1993 and has over thirty five years experience conducting international negotiations. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of International Trade Law and Regulation and writes and lectures regularly around the world on trade, political and cultural topics. He is also Special Adviser on Trade for the Brussels-based public affairs consultancy FIPRA.

Angeline works on developing concise analyses of EU and Chinese climate policy and politics, and the impact of European and Chinese domestic politics on international climate diplomacy. She focuses on opportunities for bilateral climate cooperation between China, the EU and the US. Before joining E3G, Angeline worked as a Junior Professional in Delegation and Political Officer for the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, where she led the political dialogue on climate and environment and oversaw EU-China relations. Prior to that, Angeline worked for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action on the early stages of the European Green Deal.

Gerhard Stahl is a visiting professor at the Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen. He previously worked as an economist at the German Ministry of Finance and was Director-General at the Economic Ministry of a German Federal State government. Later, he worked in leading positions at the European Parliament and European Commission in regional policy and as Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner. He is a member of the scientific council of the European Foundation for Progressive Studies and was a member of the administrative board of the Ifo Institute, one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe.  He is the author of many publications on economic and international policy issues, including a book on EU-China relations.  

Ambassador Jorge Toledo Albiñana is a career diplomat from Spain. After taking his degree in law and entering the Diplomatic School in Spain, he joined the Spanish Foreign Service. Since then, except for three years in Senegal where he was Spanish Ambassador, his career has been devoted to European Union Affairs. Among other posts, he has served as Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union and European Affairs. In Asia, he has previously been posted to India and Japan before arriving in China to his current posting as the Ambassador of the European Union to China.

Wang Wen is a professor at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and is also the Secretary-General of the Green Finance Committee of China Society for Finance and Banking, and Researcher of the Financial Research Center of the Counsellor Office of the State Council. He was once the Chief Op-eds Editor of Global Times, and has authored, co-authored, translated and contributed to more than 30 books.  

Gao Zhikai has extensive experience in government, diplomacy and securities regulation, most notably working as Deng Xiaoping’s English interpreter in the 1980s and serving as the China policy advisor at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Gao’s prior investment banking and corporate management experience includes senior positions with Morgan Stanley Asia, the China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Daiwa Securities, as well as the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).