• Caught in the middle? Italy and China after COVID-19

    If we look only at trade figures, Sino-Italian relations might not be considered worth our attention. In fact, they are very lop-sided. For Italy, China is not a significant partner, accounting for 3.4% of exports and 7.2% of imports. For China, Italy is even less important, representing less than 1% of both imports and exports.…

  • A New Cold War? Can we maintain good academic relationships with China post Covid-19?

    As a social scientist working in the field of Chinese politics, I note with interest the speed with which perceptions of China changed these last months. A Cold War mentality is detectable. We hear from many parts of the world that China’s rise as a superpower is a challenge to the status quo. Politicians and…

  • A View from China: Will COVID-19 Change the Way We Teach?

    Isolating at home has become the norm, in what feels like an ultra-long winter vacation! The Chinese Ministry of Education has decreed that “classes will be suspended, without school suspension” and so, like the rest of the world, we have had to turn to the webcast. Webcast teaching has a number of advantages. It provides…