21 May
2026
Global China Conversations #49
Adapting under Fire: How China Responds to Overseas Conflict Risks in the US-Iran War?
11:00
–
12:00
The recent escalation of hostilities in the Persian Gulf has shone a spotlight on China’s exposure to conflict risks: both Iran and smaller states on the other side of the Gulf are home to significant Chinese investments and major suppliers of energy and other inputs for China’s economy. Such a clustering in high-risk areas is characteristic for Chinese foreign investments, especially those made under the Belt and Road Initiative. This presents China with the challenge of protecting its sprawling overseas interests, while its foreign policy still espouses the principles of noninterference and noninterventionism. This Global China Conversation will examine how China deals with this problem, and how its foreign policy is changing as a result. While China remains more hesitant than other great powers to directly intervene in conflicts, it is developing a distinct form of security agency centered on domestic security cooperation, diplomatic mediation and employing geoeconomic leverage. But how effective is this approach? How is China grappling with an increasingly turbulent world, and what can the Iran war tell us about the limits of its agency?
Program
The event consists of two impulse lectures followed by a discussion.
The Global China Conversation #49 will be held in English.
Speakers
Pascal Abb
Pascal Abb is a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, focusing on how a rising China engages with global conflict environments. He is currently conducting a DFG project on China’s adaptation to conflict risks, and guest edited a recent special issue on this topic in the Journal of Contemporary China.
Chuchu Zhang
Chuchu Zhang is an Associate Professor and the Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University. As an expert in international political economy, Zhang's research primarily focuses on China-Middle Eastern relations, international development, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Her most recent book on this issue, „China’s Changing Role in the Middle East: Filling a Power Vacuum?“, was published by Routledge in 2025.
Moderation
Paulina Alibhai
Paulina Alibhai has been a member of the research center International Finance and Macroeconomics since September 2022. Her research focuses on geopolitics, development finance, international cooperation and sovereign debt with focus on China in Africa. She studied Development Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Sociology, Politics and Economics at Zeppelin University.
Contact
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