China and the West or China vs the West?

Rationale

Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), along with Bite-Sized Publishers, invites you to a discussion on contested relations between China and the West. The discussion is centred around Yue Parkinson’s books including "China Vs the West" (2021) and the launch of a new one "China's Ukraine Dilemma - The Shaping of of a New World Order".

The Ukraine War is changing the balance of Europe and at the same time raising further questions about the approaches of the non-Western powers, especially China. Various commentators have raised the prospect of a new cold War with China and Russia on one side and the US-led West on the other. That such commentaries ignore majority of the states in the world does not undermine their power to shape the global agenda in the coming days. Has Russia-Ukraine war underlined the already existing fissures between China and the West or is it creating new ones? The event will focus on some of the different ways in which China and the West can, and do, relate to each other.

Speakers

Yue He Parkinson, is a Chinese columnist (https://www.ftchinese.com/author/何越) with Financial Times and a bilingual author. She writes in English about China, and in Chinese about the West, with the benefit of two mindsets combining Chinese and Western empathy and know-how. She is the first and only Chinese writer who has been persistently writing in her Chinese articles that the UK has transformed itself into a far more egalitarian country than the widely held Chinese perception of the UK’s class-based society. She is the author of China and the West: Unravelling 100 Years of Misunderstanding published in 2021. Her second volume The Misunderstanding between China and the West - Why doesn't China Stand by the US in the Ukraine War, will be published in May 2022. Yue has translated food guru Ken Hom’s autobiography into Chinese. Her Chinese book on Brexit planned to be published in May 2020, was suspended due to the turbulent relationship between China and Britain.

Vince Cable is the former leader of the Liberal Democrat party 2017-19. He was Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills for five years. Vince is currently a professor in Practice at the LSE, visiting Professor at Nottingham University, and visiting professor at St Mary University.

Introduction by:

Ken Hom OBE is a leading authority on Chinese cuisine, one of the most respected and celebrated TV chefs of all time, the author of almost 40 books, which have inspired millions of home cooks around the world. He has presented seven UK television series launching his career over 35 years ago with Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery. His most recent book is his autobiography ‘My Stir Fried Life’ – published in English, Chinese and soon in Thai, and available from Amazon. He is a founding patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective, also an ambassador for GREAT, the UK Government’s international marketing campaign.

Chair by:

Professor Dibyesh Anand is the Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, London and a professor of international relations. He is the author of monographs "Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination” and “Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear” and has spoken about, and published on, varied topics including Tibet, China, China-India border dispute, Hindu nationalism in India, Islamophobia, and conflict in Kashmir. He identifies as queer in personal and political terms. Twitter @dibyeshanand

The event is co-organised by Centre for the Study of Democracy (University of Westminster) and Bite-Sized Books

Yue He Parkinson's books will be available for sale at the event.

The event is open to students, academics and members of public. Please register via EVENTRBRITE