December 17-18, 2018

Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

The Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) is a leading European university in research and innovation in political sciences, bringing together researchers and practitioners in the field. As part of its research program in International Relations, the department organises annual conferences and symposia.

On December 17-18 the UCL’s Center for the Study of Crises and International Conflicts, Genesys Network and the University Chair Baillet Latour will hold a symposium on China. 

Registration required: tanguy.struye@uclouvain.be

PROGRAMME

8:20 AM  Welcome coffee

8:45 AM  Welcome speech by Prof. Liégeois, ISPOLE President

9:00-10:45 AM Panel 1: China normsetting ambitions

Chair: TBC           

Bart Dessein, Ghent University (Belgium)
Norms, Normativity, and the “New Normal”

Dorothée Vandamme, Université catholique de Louvain, (Belgium)
Defining China’s Actorness as Benevolent Major Power

Jeremy Paltiel, Carleton University (Canada)
Chinese Dream, Chinese Nightmare: China’s Conflicted Ambitions as Global Norm-giver

Sanna Kopra, University of Lapland (Finland)
Climate Responsibility under the Belt and Road Initiative

– Coffee Break –

11:00-12:45 AM Panel 2: Theorizing the Belt and Road Initiative

Chair: Dorothée Vandamme, Université catholique de Louvain   

Richard Turcsanyi, Palacky University (Czech Republic)
Chinese Regional Initiatives in the Developing World: Does One Size Fit All?

May Tan Mullins, University of Nottingham Ningbo (China)
Political Ecology of Rising China in the BRI Regions

Paulo Duarte, University of Minho (Portugal)
The Belt and Road Initiative and Soft Power in the China – EU Relations: Mind the Gap

Catherine Eucher, Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium)
The Alternatives to the BRI: Fiction or Reality ?

– Lunch Break –

14:00-15:45 PM Panel 3: Regionalization of Chinese foreign policy

Chair: TBC

Jonathan Ping, Bond University and China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (China) and Tian Jingling, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (China)
Why Do Emerging Geostrategic Development Paradigms Succeed? Great and Middle Powers and the South Pacific Island Countries

Xavier Aurégan, NEOMA BS ; Laval University (Canada)
Africa, Geopolitical and Geo-economic Issues for China

Alain Sepulchre, Arthur D. Little (Belgium)
The Europe-China Business Relationship: Perennial Success Would only Emerge when Unity & Courage take over Ambiguity

– Coffee Break –

16:00-17:45 PM Panel 4: Security & defense

Chair: Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Université catholique de Louvain

Kimberly Orinx, Université catholique de Louvain, (Belgium)
Waging War on the Cyber Front: The Case of China

Jian Zhang, The University of New South Wales (Australia)
Chinese Perspectives of the Role of Space in the Future of Warfare

Pascal Abb, Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (Austria)
From “Peaceful rise” to “Peacebuilder”? How Evolving China Discourses and Self-perceptions Impact its Growing Influence in Conflict Societies

December 18

8:30 AM  Welcome

9:00-10:45 AM Panel 5: China as peer competitor or status quo power?     Chair: Tanguy de Wilde, Université catholique de Louvain

Raj Kumar Kothari, Vidyasagar University (India)
China’s Rise in the Twenty First Century: Implications on World Politics

Sven Biscop, Egmont Institute & Ghent University (Belgium)
Europe and the (other) Great Powers

Amit Gupta, USAF Air War College (United States)
Global Strike vs. Globalization: The US – China Strategic Competition

Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Université catholique de Louvain, (Belgium)
Mary Parker Follett and how Washington and Beijng can avoid the Hegemonic War

– Coffee Break –

11:00-12:45 AM Panel 6: Theoretical implications of China’s power process    Chair: Michel Liégeois

Gauthier Mouton, Université du Québec (Canada)
The Search for a Chinese’s Paradigm of IR Theory in the Asian Century

Stephen Smith, Carleton University (Canada)
Contours of a Sinocentric Order: Chinese IR Theory and the Chinese Way

Flore Naslin, Université catholique de Louvain, (Belgium)
From Order to Harmony: A Constructivist Perspective on Chinese Ontology in the 21st Century

– Lunch Break –

14:00-15:45 PM Panel 7: Belt and Road Initiative in Context

Chair: Tanguy Struye de Swielande, Université catholique de Louvain

Barthélémy Courmont, Catholic University of Lille (France)
Perceptions and Receptions of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Europe

Junaid Qureshi, European Foundation for South Asian Studies (The Netherlands)
Legal Implications of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the Jammu & Kashmir Conflict

Emilian Kavalski, University of Nottingham Ningbo (China)
Is China a European Power?

Maria Strassakova, Palacky University (Czech Republic)
Belt and Road Initiative in Vietnam: Opportunity or Threat?

– Coffee Break –

16:00-17:45 PM Panel 8: The historical memory of China’s power

Chair:  TBC

Mehmet Sahin, Middle East Technical University (Turkey)
Tianxia (All Under Heaven): An Alternative System or Legitimization of Chinese Hegemony?

Christian Bachheimer, ABI (Indonesia)
China as a Regional Power: A New Tianxia

Aigul Kulzanarova and Li Li, Tama University (Japan) & Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (China)
China’s New Tianxia?: On Cosmopolitan Aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative

17:45 PM Networking Drink