Jens Damm

Jens Damm

Associate Fellow
European Research Centre on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT)
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

Jens Damm is an Associate Fellow at the European Research Centre on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT), Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. He is also a board member of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS). Previously, he was an Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies, Chang Jung University, Tainan (2009-2019) and an Assistant Professor at Free University Berlin. From 2015 to 2017, he was also a non-resident research fellow at the Oriental Institute Prague (PI of the interdisciplinary research project “China’s Cultural Diplomacy: Role of Non-State Actors and Regional Variations” - grant by the Czech Science Foundation GAČR).  

Research project

China’s Public Diplomacy with regard to SARS-CoV-2  
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to profound changes in China’s domestic politics. Together with the new global conflicts and changing international relations and changes in global economic relations, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic represents a watershed in politics, diplomacy, and international relations. New balances of global power are emerging, and China’s relationship with the rest of the world is being reassessed both inside and outside China. It is connected to the issue of China’s system competition on a global basis: multipolar world order vs. decoupling, efficiency of authoritarian systems vs. democratic systems (e.g. the EU, but also Taiwan). The research asks: To what extent does this pandemic control form a means of exercising soft power in public diplomacy? Which institutions and actors are involved e.g. Confucius Institutes, diplomats, academics? How do these new Chinese public diplomacy effects different European states, in particular Germany, France, and the UK as main players in Europe? The research will build on text analysis of Chinese official and academic writings, and on expert interviews in Europe (later also with Chinese partner institutions in China itself). 

Publications