The European Commission has launched a fellowship on China to foster strategic cooperation with think tanks and universities on China-related issues and sinology in general. The goal is to tap into deep expertise on China from Europe and beyond and expand the knowledge base on China within the Commission. “It’s to further deepen our understanding of China,” Eric Mamer, Chief Spokesman of the European Commission, said. “China is obviously an extremely important country and partner of the European Union.” Mamer added that while there is such expertise in the EU, the initiative could further reinforce it across a series of policy fields.
The Commission said the fellowships will group policy-oriented scholars from world-class think tanks and universities specializing in political, social, economics, digital technology, and environmental and climate matters, as well as China-related security and historical issues. The fellowships are based in IDEA (Inspire, Debate, Engage and Accelerate Action), an advisory body set up by Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to provide ideas for core priorities, including geopolitics. The fellowships will have a dynamic structure with fellows joining over a period ranging from six to 12 months with the aim of bringing a specific expertise. Fellows, who will be paid, will be selected solely based on their competence and expertise. A maximum of 15 fellowships will be offered for each period. Mamer said that the first call for applications will be announced shortly. He added that the program is open to people who can prove that they have significant expertise on China in one or more policy areas listed.
Ding Chun, Director of the Center for European Studies at Fudan University, said the launch of the fellowships shows that the China-EU relationship is important to the EU. “It means that their current understanding and research is still not enough and needs to be strengthened,” said Ding, who has participated in EU fellowships for Chinese scholars in the past decades. EU-China exchanges have been stepped up in the past months, with European Council President Charles Michel visiting Beijing on December 1, almost a month after a trip by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
On January 26, Fu Cong, the new Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, presented his letter of credence to Ursula von der Leyen, the China Daily reports. China’s ambassador to the European Union said that Beijing is committed to cooperation and dialogue with Brussels.
