In today’s episode, we talk about building European unity towards China. This topic often returns in discussions on EU-China relations, as unity seems as necessary as it is idealistic. But what is it exactly and how can it be achieved?

Our guest is a veteran China-watcher and an MEP, who has served at the European Parliament for over a decade, representing the German Green Party. He is the Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China and a Member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the United States, but he wears many more hats, including that of a member of the Sino-German Dialogue Forum.

In today’s episode, we look at Central Europe—in particular, Poland and Hungary—to explore EU-China relations in this region. We will take a wider geostrategic perspective, but also explain perspectives of these two Central European actors.

Our guest is the Director of the Center for Europe at the University of Warsaw and a lifelong diplomat, who served as an Ambassador on multiple posts in Asia and as a chief of the policy cabinet for the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs. As a Polish sinologist who calls Hungary his second home and researches European integration, he has a unique insight into Polish and Hungarian perspectives on EU-China relations and wider global power shifts.

We dive into the topic of Brexit and its impact on EU-China relations. We will discuss the role that the United Kingdom played within the European debate on China and hear some predictions about post-Brexit dynamics.

Our guest today is John Farnell, a former European Commission’s Director responsible for international affairs at DG Enterprise (now DG GROW) and a Senior Advisor at the EU-Asia Centre think tank in Brussels. In his work, he co-shaped EU-China economic relations, which he is continuing to study as a Research Associate at the University of Oxford China Centre.