China-GDR Relations from 1949 to1989

The Centre for Asian Studies at Stockholm School of Economics invites to this seminar “China-GDR Relations from 1949 to1989. The Bad Company to keep.” with Dr. Axel Berkofsky, University of Pavia. 

In this seminar, Axel Berkofsky will present his book China-GDR Relations from 1949 to 1989. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the relations between China and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1949 to 1989.
These relations were characterized by some “ups” but many more “downs,” e.g. when, in the early 1960s, the Soviet Union ordered its vassal state in East Berlin to begin treating its former socialist comrade and brother-in-arms as an adversary and indeed enemy. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, especially from the archive of the GDR’s ruling party, this book examines selected issues and elements of East German and Chinese domestic and foreign policy.

Axel Berkofsky is Associate Professor at the University of Pavia and Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Milan-based Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI). He is also Executive Committee Board Member at the Stockholm-based European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) and Research Affiliate at the European Institute of Japanese Studies at Stockholm School of Economics. Previously, Dr. Berkofsky was Senior Policy Analyst and Associate Policy Analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC), Research Fellow at the Brussels-based European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS). His research interests are amongst others Japanese and Chinese foreign and security policies, Chinese history, Asian security and EU-Asia relations. 

Moderator: Dr. Patrik Ström, Director, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics and Co-Director, Center for Asian Studies, Stockholm School of Economics 

Discussant: Ms Klara Melin, PhD Student, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics and Department of Economic History and International Relations, Stockholm University