With China’s steady rise as a global scientific superpower and the increasing geopolitical tensions accompanying this development, a structural shift in European and German research policy is underway. Broadly, a move from openness and opportunity toward risk awareness and security considerations can be observed. Since 2015, several funding initiatives of the German government have sought to establish “China competence” within research and administrative structures in order to safeguard future cooperation with Chinese partners. 
One example of this policy approach is the Regio-China initiative, launched in 2023 by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space. The initiative primarily aims to address regional disparities in the development of China competence by promoting information exchange and institutional networking between academic organizations across federal states. The WiWiKo-China project (“Knowledge for Academic Cooperation: Research-Based and Action-Guiding China Competence for German Academic Organizations”), a joint initiative between the Lise-Meitner Research Group “China in the Global System of Science” and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), is the scientific accompanying project to these regional hubs.
Recently, WiWiKo-China conducted a series of focus group interviews to reflect on the lessons learned from the initiative and the actors involved. The preliminary findings of these interviews will be presented in this colloquium, along with an initial outline of a journal article that situates the German government’s efforts to build China expertise for secure research cooperation within its complex federal system.