Club Lunch: China and the Vatican’s New Global Strategy

Thursday, March 31, 2016
12:30pm for 12:45pm – lunch
1:10pm – address
1st Floor

Speaker: Francesco Sisci
Senior Research Associate, China Renmin University

Is the Vatican’s ‘foreign policy’ changing and is it adopting a more forward-looking stance? Will the pope visit China? Rome is certainly not standing on the sidelines – it is helping with the rapprochement between the US and Cuba, and having Pope Francis meet with Iran’s President Rouhani and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Francesco Sisci, who recently interviewed the Pope, discusses the Vatican’s foreign policy, its attitude towards China and its bigger role in international politics.

The speaker is a senior research associate of China Renmin University and an Asia Times columnist. He also served as Asia Editor for the Italian daily La Stampa and as Beijing correspondent for Il Sole di 24 Ore, in addition to writing for numerous Italian and international publications. He was the first foreigner admitted to the graduate program of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and is the author of eight books on China and a frequent commentator on CCTV. He was also previously director of the Institute of Italian Culture in China, and cultural counselor at the Italian Embassy.