In November 2020 and January 2021, GBCC respectively held the third and fourth China Capabilities Course for the Civil Service in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) China Capability Programme.
The two-day course is for civil servants working on China related policy focused on key questions relating to China’s growing strategic and economic role. Taking place online due to COVID-19, civil servants joined us from across Whitehall, including the FCDO, the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Education, and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Caroline Wilson CMG, British Ambassador to China kindly welcomed participants on the first morning of both the November and December courses, outlining her initial reflections on the ground in Beijing as Ambassador. Professor Katherine Morton of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua and Associate, Oxford China Centre facilitated the course. Sessions covered UK-China bilateral relationship; how China’s political and economic systems operate; foreign policymaking, global outlook and the rules-based international system; and thematic issues including digital and technology, and climate change cooperation and challenges. They took the form of presentations, discussions, case studies and simulation exercises.
Experts included Rana Mitter OBE FBA, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford; Ewan Smith, research fellow at the University of Oxford; Charlie Parton OBE, associate fellow and Raffaello Pantucci, senior associate fellow at RUSI; Sam Geall, executive director of environmental non-profit China Dialogue; Shaun Breslin, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick; Andrew People, former journalist at the Wall Street Journal and research director, China Britain Business Council; Alexi Drew, research associate at King’s College London; and Rod Wye, associate fellow at Chatham House and GBCC board member. Based on his experiences as former EU Trade Commissioner during trade negotiations with China, GBCC’s honorary president Lord Mandelson also discussed China and global trade with participants.