Presseinformation: China’s growing global influence

Nr. 78 - 01.06.2026

German Research Foundation funds new Research Training Group at Göttingen University

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded funding for the establishment of a new Research Training Group (RTG): “China-GRASP: China’s Geoeconomic Rise and the Accumulation of Structural Power” at the University of Göttingen in collaboration with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. It will be based in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Business and Economics and builds on the long-standing collaboration at Göttingen University’s Centre for Modern East Asian Studies. The RTG aims to map China’s growing geo-economic influence across a number of dimensions and to analyse the resulting shifts in political power. The DFG has funded the RTG for five years with around €6.9 million.

China’s economic rise is fundamentally altering global economic dynamics and the international order. From its far-reaching global infrastructure development strategy, known as the New Silk Road, to its dominant position in critical supply chains and new technologies, China’s economic influence now extends to every region of the world. China’s rise demonstrates that economic interdependence can be used as a lever to influence foreign policy positions, and that this rise can occur gradually through structural power, without open conflict. The RTG will bring together eleven PhD researchers with Göttingen University researchers from the fields of economics, political science, Chinese studies, and agricultural economics. In addition, researchers from the University of Amsterdam, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and other international partners will contribute their expertise.

This interdisciplinary collaboration will enable two cohorts of PhD researchers to examine China’s geo-economic influence across four dimensions: security; the production of goods and services; finance and credit; and knowledge and information. A network analysis will seek to identify in which of these dimensions the country has established positions relative to other states and actors that allow it to exert significant influence on political decision-making processes. How does the flow of goods, the exchange of information, security cooperation, or voting behaviour in international organisations distribute power? At the same time, research will also examine the extent to which actors succeed in developing effective counterstrategies and resilience.

“We are training a new generation to be experts on China,” say the RTG’s Spokesperson, Professor Anja Jetschke at the Institute of Political Science, and co-Spokesperson, Professor Andreas Fuchs, Chair of Development Economics, both at Göttingen University. “We will enable PhD researchers to conduct methodologically and theoretically rigorous research into the global implications of the rise of China. This means they will be ready to go into careers in academia, government, international organisations, development agencies, think tanks or the private sector.” The programme offers intensive academic supervision, training in interdisciplinary methods, the development of professional skills and internships at international partner institutions. In addition, a new junior professorship in Geopolitics and Economics is planned, which will link interdisciplinary research between the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Contact:

Professor Anja Jetschke

University of Göttingen

Faculty of Social Sciences

Institute of Political Science

Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25100

Email: anja.jetschke@sowi.uni-goettingen.de

https://lehrstuhlib.uni-goettingen.de/

Professor Andreas Fuchs

University of Göttingen

Faculty of Business and Economics

Chair of Development Economics and Global Political Economy

Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-28311

Email: afuchs@uni-goettingen.de