Insights in Strategy

Ask ten people in Southeast Europe what Chinese influence in the region actually looks like, and the answers will cluster at two extremes. For some, China is a strategic and security threat, buying loyalty through debt, elite capture and infrastructure. For others, it is a product of Western scaremongering, a story that inflates a marginal and beneficial presence into a geopolitical drama. Both pictures are confidently drawn, but neither is complete or particularly reliable. The gap between...

• Polarization, Expertise, Strategy

In recent years, China’s presence in the Western Balkans has become increasingly visible, evolving beyond its initial focus on infrastructure investments and economic cooperation. While earlier engagement was largely defined by large-scale projects and bilateral agreements, a noticeable shift is underway toward a more diversified and society-oriented diplomatic approach.

• Diplomacy, Strategy, Soft power

The Chinese negotiator has been a mystery often incomprehensible for Western researchers and practitioners who interacted with the Chinese. While university departments, companies, books and journals have devoted ground-breaking research in the last forty years, it is shocking to see how fast the early research became outdated as China went through a massive change. During that time, parts of the world were oblivious to the rise of China because they had at best minimal or ad hoc interaction...

• Negotiations, Engagement, Strategy

In Southeast Europe today, China is not a distant actor despite the geography. It is a neighbour in policy, a stakeholder in infrastructure, a player in markets, and a voice in political conversations. It appears in ports, factories, public tenders, university classrooms, in social media discussions and news headlines. Often its presence is visible, sometimes not – for strategic reasons. Sometimes it is woven into agreements, investments, or relationships that unfold quietly, but with long-term...

• Strategy, Engagement, Expertise