How Will the War in Ukraine Impact China’s Engagement in Eastern Europe?

Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

Over the past three decades, China has become a major trade partner and investor for Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. The region is also an important component of the BRI New Eurasian Land Bridge, providing alternative access to Western Europe. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is shaking up China’s plans and prospects in this part of Eurasia. With the closing of borders between Russia and the EU, China’s long-term interests are arguably at risk. The war is also resulting in geopolitical shifts and hardening divisions between the West on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other. This panel discusses China’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the impact that today’s dramatic developments will have on China’s presence in Eastern Europe and its BRI plans. Panelists: Jinghan Zeng Professor of China and International Studies at Lancaster University and Academic Director of China Engagement and Director of Lancaster University Confucius Institute Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova Head, China Studies Centre, Riga Stradins University; Head, Asia Program, Latvian Institute of International Affairs Jeremy Garlick Director of the J. Masaryk Centre of International Studies and Associate Professor of International Relations and China Studies at Prague University of Economics and Business Arseny Sivitsky Co-Founder and Director of Minsk-based Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Studies Moderators: Nargis Kassenova Senior Fellow, Program on Central Asia, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies James Gethyn Evans Communications Officer, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies; Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University This event is sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.