China and the Reordering of the World

Why Europe could be decisive in the power struggle between China, the USA, and Russia.

The world has fallen into disorder, and China is a central driver of that shift. The People's Republic's rapid rise to become the world's second-largest economy is forcing the USA, Russia, the European Union, and the Global South to rethink their roles in a newly forming - and possibly multipolar - world. Sinologist Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, political scientist Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, and China expert Felix Lee of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" discuss China's global power strategy against the backdrop of its rivalry with the USA and Russia.

Europe sits at the heart of this debate. Weigelin-Schwiedrzik's argument: the EU is not a bystander in the geopolitical game but an actor that could ultimately prove decisive. A deeper understanding of China is essential for that.

Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik studied sinology, political science, Japanese studies, and Chinese language in Bonn, Beijing, and Bochum. From 1989 to 2002 she was professor of modern sinology in Heidelberg, and from 2002 to 2020 professor of sinology at the University of Vienna. She first travelled to China in 1975, studied at the philosophy faculty in Beijing, and personally witnessed the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook is a German-American political scientist who appears regularly on ARD, ZDF, CNN, and BBC, and contributes commentary to the "Financial Times", "New York Times", and "Washington Post". Her book "Der amerikanische Weckruf" was published in Brandstätter's debate series "Auf dem Punkt". Felix Lee studied sociology, economics, and politics and trained at the Berliner Journalistenschule; from 2010 to 2019 he was China correspondent in Beijing. His book "China, mein Vater und ich" became a Spiegel bestseller and won the German Business Book Prize 2023.