For several years the research team led by prof. Tomasz Kamiński has been conducting pioneer research at the Faculty of International and Political Studies on cooperation between European cities and regions from China. This level of international relations is often overlooked, while the research shows that a lot is happening there - half of European cities have contacts with China! The European Union has so far ignored this subnational level of cooperation when planning its policy towards China, but now this has changed.
Professor Tomasz Kamiński explains:
In May this year, I was invited to a meeting of the working group on EU-China relations as part of the European Liberal Forum, a think-tank at the Renew Europe party (a liberal party in the European Parliament). The members of the group were asked to prepare recommendations for amendments to the draft resolution of the Parliament on the new EU strategy towards China.
The scientist from the Department of Asian Studies, University of Lodz, presented the results of his team's research and proposed amendments to the resolution based on the findings of this research. In particular, he postulated the need to coordinate the EU's policy towards China also with local and regional authorities, which due to the intensity of their contacts with the Chinese, should not be overlooked in this process.
The proposals were then forwarded to Renew Europe MEPs, and then officially presented by them as amendments to the resolution. As a result, two proposed amendments were included in the final version of the document adopted by the European Parliament at the plenary session in Strasbourg on 16 September 2021. Thus, the research conducted at the University of Lodz contributed to noticing in Brussels the previously neglected area of relations with China and including it in the political assumptions of the EU.
Source: prof. Tomasz Kamiński, Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of International and Political Studies, UL
Edit: Promotion Centre, UL