11 Mar Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: What it Means for UK-China Relations and the Threat to Taiwan
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: What it Means for UK-China Relations and the Threat to Taiwan
The shocking scenes in Ukraine have alarmed the West, compelling unprecedented responses to Russia’s invasion and the humanitarian crisis it has inspired. Russia’s war in Ukraine has also shone a light on the evolving relationship between President Putin and China’s President Xi, after a new international cooperation pact was agreed in Beijing in the weeks immediately preceding the invasion.
In this British Foreign Policy Group event, the BFPG’s Director Sophia Gaston joined Tom Tugendhat MP, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford, to sort through the realities of the Russia-China relationship, the consequences of the situation in Ukraine for the UK’s engagement with China, and what lessons both China and the West will take from the crisis in terms of its implications for Taiwan.
Date: Monday 28th March 2022
Time: 16:00-17:00
Location: Online on Zoom
Speakers
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Tom Tugendhat MP is Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and was elected as a Member of Parliament for Tonbridge, Edenbridge and Malling in 2015. Tom is also the co-chair of the China Research Group which was set up to promote fresh thinking on how the UK should respond to the rise of China. Before entering Parliament, Tom served as military assistant and principal advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff, and has been awarded an MBE for his services in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sophia Gaston is the Director of the British Foreign Policy Group, specialising in threats to governance in advanced democracies and securing the future of the liberal world order. She has led two major studies at the BFPG on resetting UK-China relations, exploring how best to secure the UK’s vulnerabilities and facilitate a more confident, strategic approach to engagement. Sophia is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an Academic Fellow at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.
Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, and a Fellow of St Cross College at the University of Oxford. He is the author of several books, including China’s War with Japan: The Struggle for Survival, 1937-1945 (Penguin, 2013). His latest book is China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism (Harvard, 2020). Rana won the 2020 Medlicott Medal for Service to History, awarded by the Historical Association. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
