The European Union must find its way in the context of a growing rivalry between China and the United States. In early 2021, the Jacques Delors Institute set up a working group that brings together researchers, academics, practitioners and business representatives from various Member States to focus on issues that structure the EU-China bilateral relationship. Each contribution makes specific recommendations that would allow for a better articulation of the three strands of “cooperation, competition and systemic rivalry” that are at stake with China, in order to build the EU’s strategic autonomy. A globalised China is less dangerous than an autarkic China and Europe can contribute to this.

Members of the UE-China Working Group of the Jacques Delors Institute

• Sébastien ABIS, Director of the DEMETER Club and associate researcher at IRIS
• Stéphanie BALME, Dean of the Collège Universitaire de Sciences Po Paris and Research Director at CERI
• David BAVEREZ, Investor, essayist and columnist
• Sylvie BERMANN, Member of the Jacques Delors Institute’s Board of Directors, and Chair of the EU-China Working Group, Former French Ambassador to China, the UK and Russia
• Joachim BITTERLICH, Member of the Jacques Delors Institute’s Board of Directors, former Ambassador of Germany, former Advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl on European, diplomatic and security policy, former Vice-President of the France-China Committee
• Antoine BONDAZ, Research Fellow, Director of the Taiwan Program at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) and Associate Professor at Sciences Po
• Nicola CASARINI, Senior Associate Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome and Global Fellow, Wilson Center, Washington DC
• Pascal CHALVON DEMERSAY, Chieff Sustainability Officer & Government Affairs, Solvay
• Jean-François DI MEGLIO, Chair, Asia Centre
• Elvire FABRY, Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute and Rapporteur of the EU-China Working Group
• Alicia GARCÍA HERRERO, Senior Research Fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel and adjunct professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Irène HORS, President of the Steering Committee of the France China Foundation
• Pascal LAMY, Coordinator of the network of the Jacques Delors Institutes (Paris, Berlin, Brussels), President of the Paris Peace Forum
• Françoise NICOLAS, Director, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

Co-authors

• Nicolas KÖHLER-SUZUKI, Associated Researcher, Jacques Delors Institute, Trade Policy Advisor at International Trade Intelligence
• Thomas PELLERIN-CARLIN, Director of the Energy Centre at the Jacques Delors Institute
• Léa PILSNER, Policy Advisor at E3G
• Belinda SCHÄPE, Researcher on EU-China climate diplomacy at E3G
• Alexandre TAITHE, Research Fellow at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS)
• Byford TSANG, Senior Policy Advisor at E3G

Personalities consulted

• Sybille DUBOIS-FONTAINE, Director General, France China Committee
• Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Committee on International Trade (INTA)

We thank Benjamin Couteau and Giorgio Gugliotta, research assistants at the Jacques Delors Institute, for their help and careful review.