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.
#47 Chinese Investment in EU-Seaports
#46 Understanding China's Export Controls
#45 China's Drive for Food Sovereignty: Navigating Opportunities and Risks in Sino-Dutch Agrifood Collaboration
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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 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?
Understanding China's Export Controls
Export controls have evolved into key tools to maintain strategic economic advantages amid great-power competition. Within this development, China plays a key role as both a target of export controls, and increasingly as a proactive user of export controls itself. This report offers an in-depth analysis of China's legal framework, institutional structures, evolving rationale, and historical development in this domain.
Latest CKN Interviews
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.
Rem Korteweg on 'The Eagle and the Dragon'
Rem Korteweg leads the Geopolitics of Trade Programme and the Clingendael United States Programme at the Clingendael Institute. His research focuses on the intersection of foreign policy, trade, security, and industrial policy, with particular attention to Europe’s relations with the United States, China, and other global powers. Prior to joining Clingendael, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform in London and served as a strategic policy advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He holds a PhD in International Relations from Leiden University and is a frequent commentator in Dutch and international media on geopolitics and international affairs.