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.
#45 China's Drive for Food Sovereignty: Navigating Opportunities and Risks in Sino-Dutch Agrifood Collaboration
#44 A Matter of Principle: China's Developing Country Status in International Climate Negotiations
#43 Chinese Development Finance in a Shifting Global Order
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Latest CKN Knowledge Sessions Recordings
The 15th Five-Year Plan
China’s new five-year plan for 2026–2030 has been unveiled, marking a key moment in the country’s economic and political trajectory. In this China Knowledge Network (CKN) Knowledge Session, Sense Hofstede examined what the new five-year plan means in substance and in process. Answering the questions: What exactly is a five-year plan? How does it move from a high-level blueprint adopted in Beijing to concrete policy through layers of local implementation?
China and Security Developments in Space
In this China Knowledge Network Knowledge Session, Dr. Sanne van der Lugt explores recent security developments in the space domain, with a particular focus on China’s ambitions, capabilities and international positioning. Outer space is rapidly emerging as a critical domain of geopolitical and military competition. Satellites support navigation, communications, financial systems, climate monitoring and much more. At the same time, space is increasingly seen as a strategic and military domain. Countries are investing heavily in space capabilities, and satellites are becoming potential targets in times of conflict. China plays a growing role in these developments and has stated its ambition to become the world’s leading space power by 2045.
Latest CKN Report Presentations
China's Developing Country Status in International Climate Negotiations
China presents two faces to Europe in climate diplomacy. On the one hand, cooperation between the EU and China is essential for accelerating the global energy transition and reducing fossil-fuel dependencies. On the other hand, a key point of tension stands in the way: China’s unyielding adherence to its developing country status in forums such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While the EU increasingly challenges this status on principled grounds, China defends it as a matter intrinsic to sovereignty, identity, and geopolitical positioning.
Chinese Development Finance in a Shifting Global Order
The report examines how CDF has evolved from what was once described as “patient capital” into a more commercially oriented model. It explores the global and domestic factors shaping this shift, its implications for recipient countries, and its position within the broader development finance landscape. Key themes include: China’s emphasis on large-scale infrastructure and the strategic role of policy banks, fragmented governance structures and institutional rivalries, the “post-peak” phase of CDF, with a turn towards green finance, digital infrastructure, and PPPs, narratives of “debt-trap diplomacy” and the realities of borrower agency and China’s bilateral versus multilateral approaches to development finance.
Latest CKN Interviews
Gadi Rothenberg on China's hydrogen ambitions and clean energy competition
Prof. dr. Gadi Rothenberg is Professor of Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University. Based at the Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, his research focuses on developing new catalysts and sustainable energy applications. Rothenberg’s work bridges science, industry and policy, with a strong focus on how technological innovation can contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable world.
Sense Hofstede on China's new five-year plan for 2026-2030
Sense Hofstede PhD is a researcher and teacher specializing in the politics and foreign policy of China, Singapore and Taiwan. His work focuses in particular on the Chinese party-state and the international relations of the Indo-Pacific. Drawing on his expertise in Chinese political institutions and policy processes, he will provide a structured analysis of the new five-year plan and its wider geopolitical and economic implications.