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Ralph Weber Participates in an International Conference on Responses to Strategic Competition Between China and the US

Small, Medium and Great Powers' Response to US-China Strategic Competition: Neutrality, Choosing Sides, or Bandwagoning

Conference "Small, Medium and Great Powers' Response to US-China Strategic Competition: Neutrality, Choosing Sides, or Bandwagoning"

“Small, Medium and Great Powers' Response to US-China Strategic Competition: Neutrality, Choosing Sides, or Bandwagoning” was the topic of an international conference organized by the University of Zurich. Ralph Weber participated in a session exploring possible reactions by small and medium powers in Europe. The event took place on December 4-6, 2020.

Over the course of just a few decades, China has progressed from being a relatively marginal member of the international community to a great regional power and is on its way to becoming a global hegemon. Presently, the world is witnessing a new form of “Cold War” between the USA and China; frictions have grown increasingly prominent during Trump’s Presidency: trade wars, technological competition as well as mutual distrust and accusations constitute what seems to be the lowest point in the relationship between the two, since the resumption of official ties in 1979. While mostly geared towards economic interests and a trade and tariffs war, since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the clash seems to have assumed more ideological hues. Frequent direct attacks of China, its government, the Communist Party non-transparent behavior and its violation of human rights and international protocols have been uttered by many within the US presidential administration.

The conference aimed to discuss the domestic and international aspects of the rise of China. Ralph Weber participated in a session exploring possible reactions by small and medium powers in Europe and chaired a panel that investigated the strategic competition between China and the US.

The international conference “Small, Medium and Great Powers' Response to US-China Strategic Competition: Neutrality, Choosing Sides, or Bandwagoning” took place online on December 4-6, 2020. It was organized by the Chinese Studies division of the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies of the University of Zurich and the Délégation Culturelle et Économique de Taipei, Switzerland.

Prof. Dr. Ralph Weber is Associate Professor of European Global Studies at the Institute for European Global Studies. He specializes in Political Theory, Chinese Politics, and modern Confucianism. Currently, he is the President of the European Association for Chinese Philosophy and the Chair of the Section on Political Theory in the Swiss Political Science Association.

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