The aim of the Project is, through focussed scholarly discussions, to increase global understanding of the threats to peaceful competition between China and the West, and to widen and deepen discussion on the possible means of addressing these threats through the adjustment of power relationships, the management of conflicts, and the achievement of cooperation – notwithstanding the inevitable strategic competition between China and the West during the remainder of our century.
Inevitably, there will be a large range of differing views about how this aim can best be achieved. The purpose of the Project will be to stimulate informed discussion of these differences, rather than seeking to craft any kind of consensus blueprint. The hope is that, by encouraging debate to focus on the means by which we can best achieve peaceful engagement against the inevitable background of strategic rivalry and strong differences of view, we can draw opinion-formers in the media and elsewhere away from the casual and hugely dangerous assumption that conflict between China and the West is already ‘written’ into the history of our century.
To achieve these aims, the Project will promote and deliver a programme of quarterly virtual, global conferences. Each conference will focus on a specific threat to, or opportunity for, peaceful competition between China and the West, and on the possible means of addressing that threat or realising the opportunity. It is intended that, as well as drawing in participants from around the world, these conferences should view the Sino-Western relationship through a multitude of lenses, and should connect experts from a range of disciplines who would not normally be involved in discussions of security or international relations.
As the vehicle for the delivery of our programme of virtual conferences, we are in the process of establishing a Global Academic Network composed of significant institutions from across the world. Each of these institutions will host a conference based on a particular threat to, or opportunity for, peaceful coexistence at least once every five years, and will develop the corresponding materials for dissemination through our online journal.
We have also established a Global Advisory Panel of distinguished diplomatic, academic, religious and political figures from differing countries, who will help to guide the work of the Project through bilateral consultations. We will work closely with this Panel to ensure that the ideas emerging from our quarterly conferences and online journal enter the agenda of policy-makers around the globe.
The Policy Institute, King’s College London
22 and 23 June 2021
Global health and international cooperation in a multi-polar world
IDFC Mumbai
8 October 2021
Global supply chains, national resilience and dependence on China
Centre for International Governance Innovation, Ontario
15 and 16 November 2021
Global cooperation on digital governance and the geoeconomics of new technologies in a multi-polar world
LUISS, Rome
11, 12, and 13 January 2022
China, the West, and political humanities: How we can learn from the past
National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Tokyo
8 and 9 February 2022
How countries in the Indo-Pacific have responded to the rise of China
Finnish Institute of International Affairs
23 and 24 March 2022
The future of the geoeconomic world order in the context of multi-polarity
CEBRI, Rio de Janeiro
11 and 12 May 2022
Sustainability and the new energy economy in a multi-polar world
Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
21, 22, and 23 September 2022
Emerging Asia’s role in a multi-polar world
Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
24 and 25 January 2023
Maritime security in a multi-polar world
CEBRI, Rio de Janeiro
22 March 2023
Managing multilateralism with China: the test-case of BRICS
Princeton (PIIRS)
April 2023
Reimagining the rules-based international order in the context of multi-polarity
University of Waikato, Hamilton
26 September 2023
China and the Pacific
ANU, School of Regulation and Global Governance
28 and 30 November 2023
Managing interdependence in a changing zeitgeist
NTU, Singapore
16 February 2024
Rivalry and international cooperation in the age of the fourth industrial revolution
South African Institute of International Affairs
12 March 2024
Geoeconomics, geopolitics, and food insecurity in Africa
Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada Vancouver | Australian National University, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) Canberra |
Centre for International Governance Innovation Waterloo, Ontario | Centre for Policy Research New Delhi |
Centro Brasileiro de Realações Internacionais (CEBRI) Rio de Janeiro | Finnish Institute of International Affairs Helsinki |
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University Stanford, California | Good Governance Africa Lagos
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Hertie School Berlin (affiliated institution) | IDFC Institute Mumbai |
Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (LUISS) Rome | National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies (GRIPS) Tokyo |
Observer Research Foundation New Delhi | Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey |
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University Singapore | South African Institute of International Affairs Johannesburg |
The Policy Institute, King’s College London London | The University of Waikato Hamilton, New Zealand |
Chinese interlocutors, providing a forum to discuss with us the ideas emerging from the conferences held by the institutions forming the Network
Institute of Commerce, Civilisation and Commons (ICC), Fudan University
Shanghai
Julie Bishop Former Australian Foreign Minister Chancellor of Australian National University | Gordon Brown Former UK Prime Minister UN Special Envoy for Global Education |
Yoichi Funabashi Former Editor-in-Chief of Asahi Shimbun Chairman, Asia Pacific Initiative | Winston Lord Former US Ambassador to China and Assistant Secretary of State |
Ranjan Mathai Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Ambassador to France and High Commissioner to the UK | Michael McFaul Former US Ambassador to Russia Director, Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford |
Jim McLay Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand Permanent Representative to the UN | Professor Joseph Nye Former Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Chair of the US National Intelligence Council |
Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin Vice-President of King's College London Member of the UN Advisory Group of Experts on Peacebuilding Architecture | Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja |
Professor Andrea Prencipe Rector of Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Rome | Kamalesh Sharma Former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN and Secretary General of the Commonwealth |
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos CEO of the South African Institute of International Affairs | Professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger Roscoe Pound Professor at Harvard Law School and former Brazilian Minister of Strategic Affairs |
Archbishop Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury Head of the Anglican Church | Frank G Wisner Former US Ambassador to India and Under Secretary of State and Defence |
George Yeo Former Foreign Minister and Defence Minister of Singapore |
Chairman - Rt Hon Sir Oliver Letwin
Research and Editorial Director – Molly Kiniry
Molly works closely with our partner-institutions to coordinate our international conferences as well as our online journal. She is also currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, where she studies the history of postcolonial economic and political integration efforts in East Africa. She previously led the Legatum Institute’s International Development programme, and has also worked for Babson Global, the International Roundtable on Trade and Competition, and the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs. She has published in both English and French on trade and competition policy in the developing world and given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury and Trade Select Committees on international trade issues. She formerly wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Telegraph.
Advocacy and Engagement Director – Thomas Fieldhouse
Thomas works with our global advisory panel and partner-institutions to communicate ideas emerging from our conferences to policymakers and opinion-formers around the world. He has a professional background in Westminster politics, where he worked closely with a wide range of MPs and Peers – serving for five years as a senior adviser to the Rt Hon Sir Oliver Letwin. He also spent two years as Deputy Director of the ‘Red Tape Initiative’, a government-backed cross-party project to identify and improve EU-derived regulation following Brexit. Alongside his work for the PfPC, Thomas is also currently a Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit, University College London. He has an academic interest in the nexus of security issues and great power politics - holding an MA in International Relations and an MLitt in International Security Studies, both from the University of St Andrews.
The Project for Peaceful Competition gratefully acknowledges the donation received from:
Technology Entrepreneur, Early-stage Investor, and Founder of Cantab Capital Partners – one of the UK's leading quantitative investment companies in the UK |
The Project for Peaceful Competition is also very grateful for the work of Patty McCabe in getting the project established.
