“China in the 21st Century: Partner or Competitor?” Meeting Jointly Hosted by Sabancı University & İKV, and Supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Was Held on November 8, 2019.
With the financial support of FNF, IKV and Sabancı University jointly hosted a held round table meeting entitled “China in the 21st Century: Partner or Competitor?” on 8 November 2019. The opening speeches of IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu, Prof. Bahri Yılmaz from Sabancı University and Head of FNF Istanbul Office Dr. Ronald Meinardus were followed by four sessions which are China in the Global Economy and Politics, Relations of China with the European Union, Relations between China and the US and Relations of Turkey with China.
The panelists of the first session, which was moderated by Head of FNF Istanbul Office Dr. Ronald Meinardus, were Karim Dahou, Senior Counsellor and Head of the China Unit in the OECD Global Relations Secretariat, Dr. Erika Gudrun Wacker, Senior Fellow at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and Mehmet Öğütçü, Founder and CEO of Global Resources Partnership.
The second session entitled “Relations of China with the European Union” was moderated by Prof. Bahri Yılmaz and the panelists were Head of Research Division at SWP, Dr. Hanns Günther Hilpert, Strategic Adviser to the Managing Director of European External Action Service Asia & Pacific Department George Cunningham and Managing Director and Coordinator of Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business and Director of the Department for Asia, Africa and Foreign Trade Promotion at the Federation of German Industries, Friedolin Strack.
The third session entitled “Relations between China and the US” was moderated by Fatih Oktay, Lecturer at Koç University, the panelists were Selim Kuneralp, Former Turkish Ambassador of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Assoc. Prof. Sait Akman, Director of G20 Studies Centre at Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and Vesile Kulaçoğlu, Former Director of Trade and Environment Division at WTO.
The fourth session entitled “Relations of Turkey with China” was moderated by IKV Secretary General Çiğdem Nas and the panelists were Dr. Altay Atlı, Lecturer at the Department of International Relations at Koç University; Korhan Kurdoğlu, Vice Chairman and CEO of TFI TAB Food Investments and President of TÜSİAD China Network and Mehmet Özgün Arman, Head of Department, Deputy Directorate General for East Asia at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.
Last speaker of the session, Mehmet Özgün Arman, made the point that in recent years, relations between Turkey and China gained momentum which has created win-win situation for both countries. He said that Turkey provided important opportunities for China in terms of both investment and tourism. He concluded by asserting that political will to improve multilateralism should be sustained by both countries. After the Q&A session, the round table meeting came to an end with the distribution of IKV’s Turkish and English publications to the audience.
