The China Policy Institute is pleased to announce that a seminar by Dr Mikhail Karpov, Associate Professor at the School of Asian Studies, affiliated with the Russian Higher School of Economics.

Since the start of the political crisis in Ukraine, the growth of Russian involvement in it and the subsequent sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and the West, there has been much talk in Russia and abroad about Russia “turning to the East” and upgrading her relations with China to the level of “strategic alliance”. However, even the existing framework of ambiguous “strategic cooperation” would be problematic to sustain in the medium term, since the main structural prerequisites for Sino-Russian interaction in almost all fields, are quite poor. By 2013, Sino-Russian bilateral trade had reached its “structural ceiling”. For both countries to overcoming these limits means a deep systemic change in their respective economic strategies and policies, a change which now seems highly improbable.

Speaker biography

Mikhail Karpov, born 1967, is currently Associate Professor at the School of Asian Studies, affiliated with the Russian Higher School of Economics. Prior to this, he worked as Assistant and then Associate Professor at Moscow State University, Institute of Asian and African Studies (1996-2011), Head of Asian Desk at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (2011-2012). He also have been a visiting scholar, lecturer and visiting Professor at Budapest Collegium (1997-1998), Central European University (Budapest) (2000-2002), Beijing University (2005, 2006-2007 and 2009), Tamkang University (Taiwan) (2013),  Institute of International Relations of NCCU University (Taiwan) (2013, 2016).

He has Master of Arts in Political Science from the Central European University in Budapest (1994) and PHD in History from Moscow State University, Institute of Asian and African Studies (1995). Dr. Karpov is author of three books on political economy of China’s transition to market, the most recent of which is “Vicious Cicle of ‘Chinese Miracle’. Market Reforms and Adaptive capacities of the Chinese One-Party Leninist State”, published in Sankt-Petersburg and Moscow by Nestor-Istoria Publishers in 2014. His most recent papers on Russian-Chinese relations and political economy of Xi Jinping’s China were published as Policy Papers by correspondingly University of Sydney, China Studies Center in 2015 (“Will Russian-Chinese ‘Strategic Partnership’ Last Until 2020? Plausible Thoughts on an ‘Implausible’ Scenario”) and King’s College of London, Lau China Institute in 2016 (“Temporary Difficulties or the Start of the ‘Endgame’? The Chinese Economy between Financial Deregulation and New Stimulus Packages”).

This event is free and all are welcome. To register, please email mandy.felton@nottingham.ac.uk.