German
Chinese
Knowledge and expertise in dealing with China are essential, especially for Germany's scientific and research institutions. The Regio-China projects, launched in 2023 with funding from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW), reflect this understanding and have been highly successful in their mission to disseminate and deepen China expertise across institutions within their respective regions. Funding for these projects will end in 2026, threatening a significant setback.
The sustained funding of regionally anchored China competence centers and networks will allow for the long-term preservation and further development of these achievements and thus represents a strategic investment in Germany's sovereignty, operational certainty, and innovative capacity.
The Regio-China projects, launched in 2023 with funding from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW), reflect this understanding and have been very successful in their mission to disseminate and deepen China expertise across institutions within their respective regions.
1. A National China Competence Network Requires Regional Hubs
The planned nationwide China Competence Network is urgently needed, but it cannot function in a centralized, exclusive manner: It requires regional China competence centers as an operational backbone to incorporate knowledge from local practice, identify needs, and make national guidelines feasible within the federal system. Without them, a national network remains abstract, top-down, and ineffective.
2. Mediating Role Between Science, Administration, and Politics
Regional centers translate national guidelines and regulations into university and research practice, while simultaneously providing feedback to the federal and state governments. They are thus a key component for coherent science strategies, which are only effective if they realistically incorporate operational experience from the diverse higher education landscape and the practical requirements of everyday research.
3. Regional Expertise Enables Tailored, Practice-Oriented Consulting
Regional research and economic profiles (e.g., marine research in the north, start-up ecosystems in Berlin, SMEs in the southwest) necessitate different consulting and awareness-raising efforts regarding engagement with China. Regional centers reflect these specific characteristics and offer tailored support instead of generic advice that fails to address local realities.
4. Necessary Strengthening of Independent China Expertise
Without permanent structures, the scientific system is dependent on external China expertise and is thus influenced by the political or economic interests of other actors. Permanently funded regional centers enable sustainable personnel development and institutional expertise—a core element of the government's goal of "independent China expertise."
Without long-term funding, there is a risk of losing qualified personnel and institutional knowledge. Rebuilding later would be time-consuming and resource-intensive.
5. Regional Institutions as Trust-Building Bodies for Increased Knowledge Security
Knowledge security and compliance are not an intuitive part of scientific socialization, which is based on openness, exchange, and international collaboration. They are often perceived as restrictions on academic freedom and as a bureaucratic burden. Researchers' willingness to engage with these increasingly important issues varies considerably.
In particular, the evaluation of sensitive research collaborations requires relationships built on trust, which develop through proximity, repeated contact, and long-term presence. Regional centers are familiar with regional stakeholders and circumstances and are therefore able to provide needs-based and trustworthy risk analyses and advisory services. This significantly increases their acceptance.
6. Stable Regional Structures as the Basis for Strategic, Future-Oriented Action
Strong regional networks and established trust structures create the foundation for developing strategies and approaches for dealing with China—including in areas such as knowledge security and technology transfer—proactively and in close consultation with researchers, rather than merely reactively. This fosters regional strengths and simultaneously increases the overall resilience of the German science system.
7. Innovation through pilot projects with broad impact
Regional centers offer practical spaces to test and evaluate processes, risk assessment tools, and awareness-raising measures on a small scale and to disseminate them through interregional cooperation. This fosters genuine practical innovation, the results of which can also be incorporated into national instruments.
Furthermore, many of the approaches developed locally have the potential to be transferred to other national contexts. The regional China competence centers thus become important drivers for a coherent and responsible internationalization of the German science system.
8. Risks of Funding Termination
Ending funding at the project's end in 2026 would likely have the following consequences:
Dissolution of regional contact points and advisory services,
Loss of existing networks and expertise,
Unbalanced regional distribution of knowledge,
Increased dependence on external analytical capacities,
Reduced federal compatibility of national and EU-wide initiatives in the area of knowledge security,
Reduced impact of the planned national network structure,
Loss of practical feedback mechanisms necessary to adapt national strategies to operational realities and new risk situations,
Weakening of independent China expertise in the scientific sector.
The dismantling of regional structures would have negative consequences for Germany's sovereignty, operational certainty, and competitiveness. Rebuilding them later would be expensive and time-consuming. The establishment of regional China expertise centers is an essential component of a future-oriented science and innovation policy.
Jana Brokate, Project Coordination
ChiKoN – China Expertise in the North
Philipp Dengel, Project Management
ChinaHub – Academic China Knowledge and Experience Network
Annika Feldhoff, Project Coordination
Yi Qi – Joint China Expertise Saxony
Daniel Höft, Project Coordination
ChinakomMitt – China-Competent Research, Teaching, and Working in Central Hesse – and Beyond
Merle Groneweg, Project Coordination
CCTC – China Competence Training Center
Dr. Isabelle Harbrecht, Project Coordination
CCTC – China Competence Training Center
Karolin Kollmorgen, Project Coordination
ChinaHub – Academic China Knowledge and Experience Network
Anastasia Kostromina, Project Coordination
KoWinChi – Competent Scientific Interaction with China
Prof. Dr. Angelika Messner, Project Management
ChiKoN – China Expertise in the North
Dr. Helena Obendiek, Project Coordination
ChiKoBo – Lake Constance China Competence Center
Yannick Ringot, Project Coordination
HNC³ – Hamburg Network on Compliance in Cooperation with China
Linus Schlüter, Project Coordination
ChinaKoop – China Competence Platform for Universities and Research Institutions in Thuringia
Benjamin Schreiber, Project Coordination
Yi Qi – Saxony's Joint China Competence Network
René Seyfarth, Project Management
ENTRANCE – Expertise & Transfer Network on China & Europe
Dr. Susanne Stein, Project Coordination
C-NET RNR – China Competence Network for the Ruhr/Lower Rhine Science Region
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Thelen, Project Management
ChiKoBo – Lake Constance China Competence Center
Sabine Weber, Project Coordination
KoWinChi – Competent Scientific Interaction with China
Originalquelle: https://www.uni-jena.de/378224/positionspapier-regiochina
