(Correspondent: Zhong Yiming) On March 1st, Professor Markus Taube of the University of Duisburg-Essen and Professor Jörn-Carsten Gottwald of the University of Bochum were invited to give two lectures to our faculties and students on the topics of “Market and the State - An Assessment of the Formative Forces of the Contemporary Global Economy” and “New Trends in the Relationship between the European Union and China”. The lectures were hosted by Qin Haiying, Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Economic Behavior and Policy Simulation, and attended by teachers Xu Xue, Cao Jing, Bo Wenguang and Liu Jie, as well as more than 20 undergraduate and graduate students.

Based on the game theory model which integrates endogenous institutional change process, Professor Markus Taube analyzed the strategic considerations and choices in different historical stages and economic and social backgrounds since the economic globalization in the 1980s and China’s reform and opening up, as well as the resulting changes in international political and economic relations from the perspective of the endogenous institutional elements, such as social culture, public expectation and enterprise behavior, with the basic methodology of game theory. Professor Markus Taube also made a risk assessment of Europe’s conditional cooperation with China in terms of imports, exports, research and development (R&D) and innovation. He suggested that the ways to inject new momentum into Sino-European cooperation may include the global multilateral governance mechanism (WTO reform), climate change cooperation, the New Silk Road, the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment/Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CAI/RCEP), and technological cooperation, etc., and thus looked forward to the future of restarting the development of economic globalization and promoting international economic cooperation.

Applying the role theory in international relations, Professor Jörn-Carsten Gottwald explained the remarkable changes in China’s international role and described the corresponding construction and practice of the role of a “responsible great power” in the context of the domestic and external expectations of China’s conception of its role, and its preferences for the way it intervenes in world politics. The impact of China’s history and identity on its bilateral relations with European countries was also analyzed, as well as its unique position in the international regime and economic order.

In the communication and discussion session, the participating teachers and students had a full, in-depth and constructive discussion with the two professors on the content of this lecture. 

Professor Markus Taube is a renowned European expert on China, who has long been engaged in research on China’s economic transformation, innovation and industrial policy, and has been appointed as an expert committee member of the Laboratory of Economic Behavior and Policy Simulation at Nankai University, where he maintains close academic cooperation with several faculty members of the School of Economics. Professor Jörn-Carsten Gottwald is the head of the Department of East Asian Politics at Bochum University. This exchange visit has further deepened the consensus and cooperation between the two sides, and implemented specific work such as joint research projects and exchange of doctoral students.