Call for Pitches: China Rising 

The global rise of China is the most extraordinary and consequential development of the 21st century. With its roots in the years of reform in the 1980s and Beijing’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, China’s development has defied all predictions in terms of its pace, scale, and trajectory: it has lifted nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty over the past four decades and made China the world’s foremost industrial power, no longer just in cheap consumer goods but in key technologies as well.

In retrospect, the tale of China simply “catching up” with the West was always meant to be self-reassuring: it presumed that China could, at worst, temporarily disrupt a West-centric economic order it would ultimately align with. Instead, under Xi Jinping, economic integration has been accompanied by political closure, repression of dissent, and a return to totalitarian control over public life.

China might not lay the same claim to universalism as the West – it doesn’t openly seek to export its political system –, but its emergence as a global superpower is actively shaping the new “multipolar order”. Beijing has strengthened its ties with Moscow while pitching itself as a defender of multilateralism from its unravelling by its main architect, the US. Through its alliances, development model, infrastructure investments, and trade practices, it seeks to build a Sino-centric world.

Europe is only just starting to grapple with the magnitude of these shifts. After being caught in the middle of trade disputes between Washington and Beijing, it is now at the epicentre of a “China Shock 2.0”, with Chinese goods and technologies threatening industrial jobs and deepening strategic dependencies. Nowhere is this more evident than in the green transition: China mines and processes the vast majority of rare earth elements crucial for green tech, it leads the world on wind and solar energies, and increasingly dominates key industries such as electric vehicles and batteries. Meanwhile, Europe has sleepwalked into new dependencies and rolled back the green transition in the name of competitiveness and technological neutrality. China’s unfair trading practices and its disregard for human rights cannot serve to justify these failures.

China’s rise also confronts us with unsettling questions. If a combination of procedural democracy and technocratic governance was thought to be the best possible engine of prosperity, where does the success of China’s authoritarian technocracy leave us? Can an honest reckoning with China’s success help rescue liberal democracies from the crisis of legitimacy they are facing? And what should Europe’s place be in the world that’s taking shape?

What should you write about?

Below are some of the topics and angles you could cover.

I. Understanding contemporary China

• Making sense of key developments, doctrines, ideas, and visions underpinning China’s current rise, from industrial maximalism to techno-authoritarianism
• China’s own visions for its role as a global power
• Unpacking the fragilities and conflicts running through Chinese society, from growing inequality to soaring debt, ageing, ecological degradation, and repression

II. The new “multipolar order”

• The Belt and Road Initiative
• China’s rise seen from Africa, India, the US, etc.
• The battle over Taiwan
• China’s foreign policy doctrine
• Tech competition and the AI race
• Europe’s place in the multipolar world

III. China and Europe

• Trade, competitiveness, dependencies
• Mapping China’s economic presence and political influence in Europe
• European approaches, attitudes, and policies towards China

IV. The green transition

• Navigating China’s global leadership in green energy and other key industries
• The rise of key industries in China and Europe’s decline: automotive, batteries, etc.
• China’s ecological vision
• Climate leadership and global extractivism

Editorial requirements

We are looking for all kinds of contributions that stimulate debate, reflection, and imagination. We are open to formats that work well on a printed page, from essays to interviews, photo essays, graphic journalism, visual art, and more.

Pitches for the print edition should be sent to editor-in-chief Alessio Giussani at: alessio.giussani@gef.eu.

Given the high volume of pitches we receive, please note that we don’t have the capacity to provide detailed feedback on rejected proposals.

The Green European Journal strives to be an inclusive space, bringing together a diverse range of voices and perspectives. We welcome contributions from everyone. Contributions from those belonging to the following groups are especially encouraged: women, people of colour, people with a physical or mental disability, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Contributions from southern and eastern Europe and from outside the European Union are particularly welcome.

Before contacting us, check our editorial guidelines. Accepted submissions may be published in print and online, or online-only, based on editorial considerations.

The deadline to send your pitch is 25 August 2026.