Event Details

This seminar is co-hosted by Lancaster University Confucius Institute, Lancaster University China Centre and Lancaster University Jean Monnet network.

How do Chinese IR scholars interpret the EU’s drive for European Strategic Autonomy (ESA), and what does it mean for China–EU relations? Drawing on Chinese-language publications from 2017 to 2024, this talk combines macro bibliometrics with close reading of key texts and symposium records. It traces a shift from early optimism to pragmatic ambivalence, showing how ESA is increasingly viewed through geopolitical and economic-security lenses—linking defense, technology standards, and supply-chain risk—rather than as a normative project. The talk examines how this discourse foregrounds the U.S. factor, complicates functional cooperation, and informs policy debates on differentiated engagement, conditional reciprocity, and calibrated openness.