China Knowledge Network
The Dutch China Knowledge Network (CKN) is a network established to connect China experts and disseminate knowledge within the government of the Netherlands and beyond.
#48 Beyond Borders: Chinese Use of Foreign Interference Tactics in Dutch Strategic Industries
#47 Chinese Investment in EU-Seaports
#46 Understanding China's Export Controls
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Latest CKN Knowledge Sessions Recordings
The Eagle and the Dragon
As tensions between the United States and China continue to shape global politics, questions surrounding trade, technology, security, and Taiwan have become increasingly important. How does the Trump administration view its relationship with Beijing? What role does Taiwan play in US strategic thinking? And what are the implications for Europe? Drawing on his expertise in geopolitics, trade, and transatlantic relations, Rem Korteweg offered a Washington perspective on the future of US–China relations and the broader international order.
From China with Love?
China is often accused of (industrial) espionage. How do these claims stand up to scrutiny? Perhaps not too well. In this CKN Knowledge Session, China expert Fred Sengers argued that we often go too far in our fear of Chinese products and technology. Many concerns are actually phantom risks: they seem plausible at first glance, but upon closer inspection turn out not to exist. This distracts from where the real risks lie, fragments attention and resources, and leads to excluding Chinese products where it isn’t necessary at all.
Latest CKN Report Presentations
Chinese Use of Foreign Interference Tactics in Dutch Strategic Industries
Geopolitical competition is increasingly defined by control over strategic industries, technological capabilities, and critical supply chains. This is creating a new arena for exerting influence over, and securing dominance within, key industrial ecosystems, with significant implications for the Netherlands as an open, innovation-driven economy. At the same time, the Netherlands’ relationship with China is marked by both strategic competition and economic partnership, requiring policymakers to strike a careful balance between protecting strategic industries and maintaining constructive interactions with Beijing.
Chinese Investment in EU-Seaports
Ports are critical infrastructure. As the new EU Port Strategy writes, they are ‘vital gateways for trade, logistics, energy, and military mobility’. Ports are also at the midst of US-China geopolitical rivalry, as shown by the ongoing dispute over Chinese investments in ports in Panama. As such, Chinese foreign direct investment in EU seaports has become a topic of heated debate. How should the EU deal with foreign direct investment and related strategic dependencies? How does Chinese direct investment in EU seaports impact the port’s competitiveness and national security interests? Is there a tipping point where an increase in Chinese FDI no longer results in a significantly greater likelihood of attracting cargo flows?
Latest CKN Interviews
Benedetta Girardi and Hans Horan on Chinese Interference in Dutch Strategic Industries
Benedetta Girardi is Programme Coordinator of the HCSS Europe in the Indo-Pacific programme and Strategic Analyst at HCSS. Her primary research interests regard the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Indo-Pacific, European defence and security policy, and the interactions and ties between Europe, China, and the United States. Hans Horan is a Strategic Analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS), specialising in the Indo-Pacific, cyber threat intelligence, and security and defence affairs.
Frans-Paul van der Putten, Bart Kuipers and Xiaoxue Martin on China in EU-seaports
Frans-Paul van der Putten is a geopolitical analyst and advisor. He has non-resident affiliations with the Clingendael Institute (as a Senior Research Associate), LeidenAsiaCentre (as a Senior Fellow), and China Macro Group (as a Senior Expert). Bart Kuipers is a seaports and logistics adviser at Erasmus UPT since 2008. Bart has worked at the Dutch Ministry of Transport, at TU Delft and TNO. Xiaoxue Martin is a Research Fellow at the Clingendael China Centre. Her work focuses on the contemporary politics and international relations of China, in particular Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs, and China’s relations with the United States and European Union.