The art of diplomacy and China: A discussion with Volker Stanzel

Categories: Event
Date: 20/02/2019
Time: 19 h 00 - 20 h 30
Location: L'Horloge du Sud
Links: iCal - Google Calendar

YCW Brussels: “The art of diplomacy and China: discussion with Volker Stanzel” former German ambassador to China and Japan

Volker Stanzel has had a long and outstanding career in the German diplomatic service. Being posted to China, working on China, and finally appointed Ambassador in 2004, he was a privileged observer of the country’s incredible evolution throughout almost the whole period from when Deng Xiaoping began the policy of Reform and Opening, both at domestic and foreign policy level. After retiring from the foreign service, he has continued to observe China and the region. With an academic background in Asian studies, he has both the scholarly perspective and first-hand experience of the challenges to work in China.

For the future generations of China watchers, new challenges have emerged: digitalisation is transforming China, social media have an impact on the way all actors operate inside and outside, and the actors of the international community have multiplied. How can our generation of decision-makers and opinion shapers operate when we deal with China?

This discussion will be a unique opportunity to exchange views with a widely-recognised and praised diplomat on China with invaluable insights on the past, present and future of China’s foreign policy and its impact on European countries.

About Volker Stanzel

Volker Stanzel is vice-President at the German Council on Foreign Relations and Senior Distinguished Fellow of the German Institute for Foreign and Security Affairs (SWP).

After obtaining a PhD in Japanese and Chinese Studies, Volker Stanzel joined the Foreign Service of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1979. He was soon posted to Japan and China in different capacities. After 25 years in the Foreign Service, stints in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and at the German Marshall Fund, Volker Stanzel became the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the People’s Republic of China in 2004. In 2007, he was appointed Political Director of the German Foreign Service and in October 2009, V. Stanzel became the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Japan.

Since retiring from the Foreign Service in October 2013, V. Stanzel has taught political science at Claremont McKenna College and at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2015 he returned to Berlin, Germany, where he worked on and taught Chinese-Japanese relations at Free University Berlin and began to pursue a project on modern diplomacy as Senior Distinguished Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). He is president of the Association of German-Japanese Societies, and a Council Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. He also is Member of the Board of the Academic Confucius Institute at University of Goettingen. He publishes frequently on foreign policy and issues of Asian politics.

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