The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the study of Chinese foreign policy and EU-China relations and facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers. ETNC strives to deepen the understanding of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role will impact the future of Europe. In particular, when examining the EU-China relationship, the network’s discussions, analyses and recommendations take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, examining the bilateral relationships between EU member states and China in order to generate a more complex perspective on the broader EU-China relationship.
The network was first launched on the initiative of the Elcano Royal Institute and the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) at Ifri’s office in Brussels on 6 November 2014. This meeting brought together experts from eleven member states, as well as observers from EU institutions. The members of ETNC decided to meet in a different capital every six months and the Mercator Institute of China Studies (MERICS) joined Elcano and Ifri in their efforts to move the project forward. Meetings have been subsequently held at Elcano’s offices in Madrid (April 2015), the MERICS offices in Berlin (November 2015), the ESCCA School of Management in Budapest (April 2016), the Institute of International Relations in Prague (October 2016), the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki (May 2017), the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome (October 2017), the University of Aveiro in Portugal (May 2018), and the Latvian Institute of International Affairs/Riga Stradins University in Riga (October 2018).
The goals of the ETNC are:
• To facilitate regular exchanges among European researchers on key issues related to China and Chinese foreign policy, and in particular on how they relate to the EU and individual EU member states.
• To generate discussions among European policy experts on bilateral relationships between EU member states and China, and subsequently on the EU-China relationship more broadly.
• To contribute to the analysis of China’s emerging grand strategy by focusing on European perspectives, with an eye on how this crucial relationship impacts the broader global economic and political order.
• To provide recommendations for the conduct of Europe-China relations based on in-depth discussions and research conducted by experts within the network.
• To create a European pool of expertise and contact networks in and on China that can be activated and utilized whenever one of the participating members requires it.
Ultimately, the main aim of ETNC is to enhance European expertise, knowledge and networking capacity on China’s foreign policy and its foreign relations with the EU member states and the EU itself by focusing on all the different levels of interaction. These range from the local to the supranational, but ETNC considers the national sphere as the analytical point of departure.
List of institutions contributing to ETNC
Coordinating institutions
• Elcano Royal Institute, Spain
• French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), France
• Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Germany
Participating institutions
• Egmont Royal Institute for International Relations, Belgium
• Institute of International Relations (IIR), Czech Republic
• Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark
• Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA), Finland
• Institute of International Economic Relations (IIER), Greece
• Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
• Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Italy
• Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA), Latvia
• The Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, The Netherlands
• Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Norway
• Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Poland
• University of Aveiro, Portugal
• Institute of World Economy, Romanian Academy, Romania
• University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia
• The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), Sweden
• Chatham House, United Kingdom
List of ETNC reports
• Mapping Europe-China Relations: A bottom-up approach (November 2015)
• Europe and China’s New Silk Roads (December 2016)
• Chinese Investment in Europe: A country-level approach (December 2017)
• Political Values in Europe-China Relations (December 2018)
Important disclaimer
The views presented in ETNC reports are the sole responsibility of the signed authors and do not in any way represent the views of all members of the ETNC, its participating institutions, nor the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.
European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) Concept Note 2018[1]
1. Mission statement:
The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the policy-oriented study of Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and European countries as well as China and the EU. It facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers with a view to deepening the understanding within the European policy and research community and the broader public of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role is likely to impact the future of Europe. The network’s discussions, analyses and recommendations take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, taking into account the various aspects of bilateral relations between European countries and China, and the points of convergence and divergence among EU members states in order to examine EU-China relations in a realistic and comprehensive way.
In general terms, the initial period of creation and consolidation of ETNC (2014 – 2018), given that it has successfully managed to produce quality roundtable discussions and reports in a constructive atmosphere, should be a reference for the future of development of ETNC.
2. The ETNC spirit
– Integrity
– Intellectual independence
– Equality
– Flexibility/Open-mindedness
– Modesty
– Congeniality
3. ETNC membership
3.1 ETNC membership is limited to one member institute per country. Each member is identified by a coordinating individual or individuals, but may be represented by more than one expert in meetings. Each member is responsible for and takes the lead on managing ETNC research, communications and events within their own national space, keeping the network members informed of the ETNC-related activities it plans and carries out. Members may invite researchers from other institutes to participate in ETNC discussions on an ad-hoc basis, after prior notification and acknowledgment from the host and coordinating group. In the absence of specific funding arrangements, each member is responsible for financing their own participation in ETNC activities.
3.2 New members are chosen based on: (i) the absence of their country in the network; (ii) their proven expertise on China or China-Europe relations; and (iii) the intellectual independence of their research work on China.
3.3 If these criteria are met, new members are accepted into the group. ETNC’s coordinating group (see below) is tasked with overseeing membership, but any member can propose changes in membership, which will be made on the basis of general consensus among all the network’s members, for instance through a two-week “period of silence” procedure. Any member may exercise the right to block changes in membership provided a reasonable justification is given and at least two other members support their position.
3.4 A member may withdraw from the ETNC at any time by informing the other members through a written communication.
3.5 Should a member become inactive, failing to contribute regularly to ETNC reports and attend meetings, the coordinating group will reach out to that member to seek an explanation. If another potential member is available from the same country, the coordinating group may discuss the options with the current member so as to ensure that country’s perspective is accounted for in ETNC’s work. Members may also wish to propose the exclusion of another member for inappropriate behavior in relation to another member or failure to meet the basic member selection criteria. The procedure for exclusion would be the same as that for admitting a new member.
4. ETNC coordinating group
4.1 ETNC is led by a group of coordinating member institutes. The group is flexible in its functioning and may evolve over time. Elcano, Ifri, and MERICS commit to the coordinating group. Any ETNC member may volunteer to participate in the coordinating group for a period of no less than three years provided they agree to actively participate in the group’s work, as specified below.
4.2 Within the spirit of the guidelines laid out in this document, the coordinating group is tasked with ensuring the regularity of the ETNC’s work program (meetings and publications), overseeing membership and participation, and ensuring regular internal communications, including minutes of all meetings (see next point), so as to ensure all members are properly informed of the ETNC’s activities and projects. It is understood that members of the coordinating group commit to participate in the editorial committee of the ETNC’s annual report, though exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis.
4.3 Minutes of meetings will be drawn up and circulated by the coordinating group, detailing in particular any organizational decisions regarding the network’s operations that were made during the meetings. The minutes will be put out for a two-week “period of silence” during which objections may still be raised regarding decisions. Barring objections, the decisions will become final at the end of the two-week period.
4.4 The coordinating group exercises a rotating presidency on a yearly basis in which one institute is tasked with spearheading the group’s work and piloting the ETNC.
4.5 To the extent possible, decisions made within the coordinating group must be consensual and agreed upon unanimously.
5. ETNC’s work: Meetings, research, and publications
5.1 ETNC members meet on a semi-annual basis (spring and fall) for a roundtable conference to discuss the latest trends and developments in Chinese affairs and Europe’s relations with China. Each meeting is hosted by a member institute. The host is responsible for coordinating the agenda, communicating with members about the meeting and ensuring adequate meeting space. The host may also offer additional support to participants, such as meals, but is not obliged to do so.
5.2 ETNC’s primary research product is an annual research report. The topic of the report is debated and voted upon by the members each fall. Any member may propose a topic by detailing the main research questions and outlining how the topic may be approached. When choosing the topic, ETNC members will seek the broadest consensus possible. If more than one topic is proposed, a voting process will be organized by the coordinating group, which will seek a clear majority vote for a single topic, while taking into account any strongly dissenting opinions.
5.3 The report is managed by an editorial group to include ETNC’s coordinating member institutes and any other member that wishes to contribute actively to the editorial process. The editorial group is tasked with drafting any summary, introduction, conclusion and/or recommendations related to the report, which will remain the responsibility of the signed authors, but should seek feedback from all contributors to the report.
5.4 Unless additional financing is secured, the editorial committee is charged with financing equally among its members the nominal cost of editing and publishing the report. A project leader is designated by the editorial committee and is in charge of coordinating the drafting of the report and its publication. While the format of the report may reflect the editorial style of the project leader, every effort should be made to distinguish the ETNC report from the lead institute’s regular publications, giving credit to those institutes that actively participated in the project. Logos of members who contributed to the editing and financing of the annual report should appear on the cover, while each member that contributed a chapter should also have their logo figure prominently in the interior of the report.
5.5 ETNC may conduct additional research and communications beyond the annual report provided there is general consensus within the group and that all members are given the opportunity to contribute should they consider their contribution relevant.
6. Operating principles to ensure the sustainability of ETNC in the future:
6.1 Remain focused. The core activities of ETNC are and should be:
• The organization of 2 roundtables/year
• The publication of one report/year
Maintaining these activities, with a high degree of scientific quality and policy relevance, already requires a significant amount of time and effort. The addition of any activity should be considered cautiously, and should be accepted if and only if it does not put into question the existence and the quality of the two core activities.
6.2 Ensure intellectual independence. ETNC members are composed of researchers who conduct independent research. Their contribution to the network should never aim to promote the official line of any country or interest group and should rather reflect the researchers’ own independent, professional analysis. Current and new membership should always be considered in this light.
6.3 Ensure equality among members. During the roundtable discussion, all researchers of ETNC express their views as individuals and have equal say, independently of the country they come from. In substantive debates, there shall be no “big” or “small” European countries, or “big” or “small” think tank hierarchy shaping the discussion.
6.4 Remain flexible. ETNC has always been flexible in nature and should remain as such throughout its development. The coordinating group should work in a flexible way, limiting top-down guidelines and procedures with a view to upholding the principles (laid out above), piloting the network in a consensual manner while ensuring a degree of quality and efficiency in ETNC’s work.
[1] This document does not constitute a formal agreement between ETNC member institutes and is not legally binding. It is meant to lay out basic operating principles for the network, which have been arrived at by general consensus among ETNC’s participating researchers.
