Stockholm China Forum is the leading transatlantic dialogue on China, bringing senior European and American representatives from government, media, business, and academia together with some of the top strategic thinkers from China on a bi-annual basis for a highly interactive conversation on a wide spectrum of economic, foreign policy, and security issues. The forum was established in cooperation with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2007 and is now in its thirteenth iteration. The event has developed a loyal group of participants, who can be relied on for maintaining a continuously evolving dialogue over time, while being consistently refreshed with a broader pool from the three policy communities. The forum has been credited by officials from Europe, the United States, and China for influencing their thinking at a number of important junctures, and has been described variously as “the most policy-relevant conference I take part in”, and “the best China conference I attend.” In addition to its direct policy impact, the forum plays an important role in developing a shared understanding of the strategic context facing all three sides and building a set of networks that have grown to constitute a common transatlantic China policy community. The 13th Stockholm China Forum will take place in Shanghai in February 2014, at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS).
Previous Stockholm China Forums have included participants from across the U.S. policy community such as James Steinberg, Aaron Friedberg, Kenneth Lieberthal, Robert Kagan, Derek Mitchell and Christopher Hill; senior representatives from the European External Action Service, DG-trade, and major member states; European thinkers such as Mark Leonard and Charles Grant; and renowned experts on China such as Francois Godement and Minxin Pei. Since the fourth Stockholm China Forum, discussion has benefitted from the attendance of senior Chinese policy figures such as Cui Liru, Jin Canrong, Yan Xuetong, Yang Yi, Qin Yaqing and Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying. Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, is a regular and active participant at the Forum. Please click here for a list of all previous Stockholm China Forum participants.