The China Observatory seeks to watch, monitor and evaluate the evolution, behaviour and actions of the Chinese Communist Party. Together with experts and legislators, the Observatory aims to guide HM Government in the formulation of a coherent ‘China policy’ through research-led, non-partisan analysis from a British vantage point.
Latest research
Previous research
Earlier research on China
Latest articles on Observing China
‘China’s National People’s Congress 2025: Putting the politics into perspective’ by Charles Parton OBE.
Observing China | The Investigator
‘China’s National People’s Congress 2025 and the economy: Misdiagnosis’ by George Magnus.
Observing China | The Investigator
‘Ten years of the Belt and Road Initiative: What’s changed?’ edited by Grace Theodoulou.
Observing China| The Tangram
Earlier opinion
From an archived version of Britain’s World, our online magazine. For more up to date content, click here.
News
The Council on Geostrategy launches the China Observatory
The Council on Geostrategy is delighted to announce the launch of the China Observatory together with leading China experts and legislators.
Experts
Grace Theodoulou
Policy Fellow, China ObservatoryMain areas of expertise: People’s Republic of China foreign policy, Taiwan and cross-strait relations
Grace Theodoulou is Policy Fellow, China Observatory, at the Council on Geostrategy. Previously, she worked at the Taipei Representative Office in the UK in the Economic Division, carrying out policy and trade analysis in Mandarin and English. She holds a BA (hons) in Chinese and Spanish from the University of Edinburgh, which included a year studying advanced Mandarin in Taipei.
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0044 (0) 20 3915 5625
Advisory Council
Alicia Kearns MP
Chair of the Advisory CouncilAlicia Kearns has been the Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton since 2019. Alicia was the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from October 2022 until the dissolution of Parliament in May 2024. Prior to being elected as an MP, Alicia worked in counter-terrorism at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then as an independent consultant across the Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
Charles Parton OBE
Chief Advisor to the China ObservatoryCharles Parton was a long-serving career diplomat in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, spending 22 out of his 37 year career working in or on the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In his final posting, he was seconded to the European Union’s Delegation in Beijing as First Counsellor until late 2016. In 2017, he was chosen by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons to act as Special Advisor on China. Presently, he is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, and a fellow at Royal United Services Institute and Mercator Institute for China Studies.
Stephen Gethins MP
Member of the Advisory CouncilStephen Gethins is the Member of Parliament for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry and the SNP’s Westminster spokesperson on International Affairs, Europe and the Scotland Office. Before entering politics Stephen worked in areas affected by conflict with a focus on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the European Union. Stephen is also Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews.
Isabel Hilton OBE
Member of the Advisory CouncilIsabel Hilton was a founder of the China Dialogue Trust in 2006 where she now works as a Senior Advisor. Isabel studied Chinese in Edinburgh and China before embarking on a career in broadcast and print journalism which included authoring and co-authoring several books, working for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, the BBC, STV, The Independent, The New Yorker and many others. She is a Visiting Professor at the Lau Institute, King’s College London, serves as a Senior Advisor to the China Council, and holds two honorary doctorates.
George Magnus
Member of the Advisory CouncilGeorge Magnus is a Research Associate at the China Centre at the University of Oxford and at the School of Oriental and Africa Studies in London. He is also author of Red Flags: Why Xi’s China is in Jeopardy. He served as the Chief Economist and later Senior Economic Adviser at the Union Bank of Switzerland during a period spanning over 20 years, having previously worked in an economics capacity at SG Warburg, Bank of America, and Lloyds Bank.
Prof. Rana Mitter
Member of the Advisory CouncilRana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has authored several books, including Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II which won the Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature in 2014, and was named a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and Economist. In 2020, he was awarded the Medlicott Medal for Service to History by the UK Historical Association. Previously, he taught at Oxford, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Except where otherwise indicated, the views expressed in our publications are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the China Observatory’s Advisory Council.
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