Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson
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Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson was Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) until May 2024, specializing in Chinese foreign policy, Europe-China relations, and international relations theory.
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How to engage with China?
In this episode of The World stage, Rana Mitter, Professor at the University of Oxford, and Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson, Senior Research Fellow at N...
Government allocates NOK 45 million to Geopolitics Research Centre led by NUPI
Kina med storstilt ideologisk oppløsning
Et kommunistregime soler sin politiske modell i olympisk glans, på tross av boikotthandlinger fra USA og vestlige land. OL i Beijing speiler imidlertid en radikalt annerledes ideologisk utfordring enn den fra Moskva-OL i 1980.
Kina balanserer i bomberegnet
Invasjonen av Ukraina stiller Kina overfor dilemmaer de hadde håpet å unngå. Det kan føre til at Kina demper sin viktige økonomiske støtte til Putin.
China’s coercive diplomacy: Why it’s on the rise and what it means for Scandinavia
Amid a wider deterioration of relations between China and the West since around 2018, the Chinese government has stepped up its use of economic coercion and other types of non-military coercive measures, targeting Western countries that challenge its core interests. The observed change is distinctive in both quantitative and qualitative terms as the Chinese authorities have not only employed coercive measures more frequently, but also across a wider set of policy objectives than previously. Using a revised dataset, the Brief offers new insights into these development trends, demonstrating how they are driven primarily by perceived violations of China’s expanding development interests. The Brief discusses the findings in the specific context of the Scandinavian countries which have also found themselves on the receiving end of China’s coercive diplomacy.
More bark than bite? Assessing China’s coercive measures in Scandinavia
Amid growing concern about Chinese coercion, this article examines the extent to which Beijing has resorted to such measures in Scandinavia based on case studies of Denmark and Sweden. Distinguishing between the actual use of and threats of using coercive measures, the article finds few instances of coercion even if Chinese authorities have repeatedly warned of negative consequences of violating China’s interests in the case of Sweden, while frequently expressing anger and frustration at perceived provocations by the Danish government or NGOs. However, as relations between Norway and China have also recently deteriorated, the risks of Norway being subjected to Chinese coercion should be assessed in a broader geographical context given an increasing number of reported cases from other regions.
The Role of External Powers in EU–Asia Security Relations
This chapter maps out the changing roles played by the United States, Russia and India as security actors in East Asia, and their influence on EU foreign and security policies in the region. Detailing the waxing and waning of the US’ ‘unipolar moment’, Russia’s military resurgence, and the increasingly assertive balancing acts of India, the chapter reviews the main policy developments implemented by these three actors since 1990 and how their policies converge or diverge with the EU’s approaches across a range of traditional and non-traditional security issues. The chapter concludes that the challenge for the EU is to advance its interests, and augment the effects, of its policies and instruments in Asia considering the potential for collaboration and contestation with the United States, Russia and India, three very different actors that diverge considerably in both strategic intentions and capabilities.
Norges debatt om kinesiske investeringer: Fra velvillig til varsom
The debate in Norway regarding security concerns related to Chinese investments has seen a notable change in character over a short period of time. From a situation where there was little discernible debate at all, and where negative coverage of Chinese investment flows were mainly concerned with working environment issues, Chinese capital flows to Norway have now also become part of the debate on national security. Two particularities make the case of Norway especially interesting with regards to the broader Nordic debates over the issues discussed in this Fokus section. The Norwegian economy has been particularly well placed to benefit from the extraordinary Chinese economic growth, but Norway has also been in a particularly problematic political position towards China over the last decade. The contrast between these two factors has been a structuring trait of the Norwegian China debate. Nevertheless, the Norwegian public debate on China has been relatively positive over a long period of time. This has been given impetus by the positive experiences reported from the Norwegian enterprises that have been the target of Chinese acquisitions. However, lately, the public debate has increasingly come to regard the issue also through a political and security-related lens. This changing character is not due to specific events concerning Chinese activities in Norway, as much as being a reflection of broader regional and global trends. The question of Huawei’s role in the coming construction of the 5G network has been a particularly important driver in this regard, as well as conductive link to the international change in opinion.
Chinese Anger Diplomacy (ANGER)
Do liberal-democratic states yield to public criticism by China? ANGER approaches this question by focusing on China's use of "anger diplomacy" - public, vehement displays at the state ...
Xi og Kina på terskelen til en ny tid
(Available in Norwegian only): Etter fem år med Xi Jinping ved roret for den spirende supermakten Kina, ser verden allerede annerledes ut. Beijing har i økende grad beveget seg mot begivenhetenes sentrum i en tid hvor globale institusjoner har blitt svekket av krefter fra mange sider, og den allerede pågående maktforskyvningen østover har blitt påskyndet av Trump-administrasjonens isolasjonistiske slagside.Når så både Kinas og verdens politiske strukturer er i rask og grunnleggende endring, mens mer politisk og økonomisk makt forskyves til Kina, og makten i Kina i økende grad konsentreres hos Xi Jinping, er kunnskap om de sosiale, økonomiske og politiske prosessene innad i Kina vitalt viktige. I en slik betydningsfull periode for Kina er det dermed særdeles betimelig at fire nordiske forfattere har bidratt med nyutkomne bøker som analyserer og belyser de viktigste trendene i den påbegynte Xi-æraen. Disse verkene skiller seg noe ad, fra Stein Ringens politiske taksonomi av ettpartistaten Kina, til Börje Lundgrens encyklopediske ettbindsverk, og de to redigerte bokutgivelsene av henholdsvis Ross & Bekkevold og Ross & Tunsjø, som begge skilter med et mangfold av ledende bidragsytere. Til felles har dog disse bøkene at hovedfokuset er på Kinas interne utfordringer, det nye lederskapets rolle under Xi, og hvordan disse interne politiske prosessene kan gi seg utslag internasjonalt. De er med andre ord gode bøker til rett tid, og er verdt å motta oppmerksomhet fra så vel Kina-forskere som den jevne samfunnsborger.