In this Book Talk, Dr Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova will have a conversation with Professor Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute, about her latest study which unpacks China-Russia relations through different perspectives.

'Perfect Imbalance' examines official foreign policy documents from Russia and China and what they publicly say about the relationship between the two countries. The study analyses the tangible outcomes of cooperation in different aspects including security, space and international relations with European countries. Finally, Dr Bērziņa-Čerenkova analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this relationship, assessing possible outcomes of development and growth of China-Russia relations, in search for a perfect imbalance.

About the speakers

Dr Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova is a political scientist, China scholar, Head of Political Science PhD programme and China Studies Centre at Riga Stradins University, Head of Asia programme at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, a member of CHERN and European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC). After having defended her doctoral dissertation on Chinese political discourse in the Hu Jintao period, she has held a Senior visiting research scholar position at Fudan University School of Philosophy, Shanghai, a Fulbright visiting scholar position at the Stanford University Center for East Asia Studies, and a MERICS European China Policy fellowship

Professor Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House, London, an adjunct of the Australia New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and the co-editor of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, run from the German Institute for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is President-Elect of the Kent Archaeological Society and an Affiliate of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University.