Speakers Schedule

Media Convenors

Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS)

DATE: 25-26 SEPTEMBER 2023

VENUE: THE GRAND, NEW DELHI

Concept Note

Theme: Beijing's Superpower Ambitions in The 'New Era'

At the 19th National Party Congress, Party Secretary Xi Jinping announced the beginning of a “new era” which was to be driven by “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. The 20th National Party Congress has seen that mandate renewed amidst Xi’s international, regional, and domestic ambitions to build China into a global superpower – and the CPC into a global ‘super-party’. Countries across the world see this ambition with alarm, especially as China inches closer to creating an alternative global order: pax-Sinica to replace pax-Americana. With China attempting to facilitate a transition from great power to superpower in an increasingly multipolar world, signs of this ambitious transition are visible in China’s domestic and international posturing. To glean how China is preparing for the “new era”, this conference will bring together the finest minds in Sinology to analyse the trajectory of China’s rise and its path to superpower status.

The conference will cover how Beijing’s assertive foreign policy is evolving to secure its numerous interests around the world while projecting a benign image of itself. It will also explore how inner workings of the party that influence provincial governance and elite politics will guide China's engagement with the international system.

As China’s economy rediscovers the road to recovery, the conference will explore the ways in which economies can manage the complexities of trade and investment with China while looking for alternatives to Chinese manufacturing. China’s military - one of the most critical variables in China’s superpower ambitions - will be discussed to examine the potential for conflict and confrontation. The Global Conference on New Sinology will bring experts of all ages, from diverse academic backgrounds and from around the world, to New Delhi for an objective and comprehensive assessment of China’s superpower ambitions and responses to Beijing’s hegemonic rise.

GCNS 2023 CONFERENCE REPORT

SPeakers

Dr. Jagannath Panda

Dr. Jagannath Panda

Head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) at the Institute for Security & Development Policy, Sweden

Mr. Claude Arpi

Mr. Claude Arpi

Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Delhi)

Amb. Shyam Saran

Amb. Shyam Saran

Former Foreign Secretary of India; former Chairman of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and current President of India International Centre (IIC)

Amb. Ashok Kantha

Amb. Ashok Kantha

Former Ambassador of India to China

Dr. B. R. Deepak

Dr. B. R. Deepak

Professor, Chinese and China Studies, Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

Dr. Anuradha Chenoy

Dr. Anuradha Chenoy

Former Dean at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

View All

View All

ABout GCNS

The inaugural GCNS (2023) hosted 55+ national and international experts and 400+ delegates across five sessions and 22+ panels. The 2024 edition brought together 60 experts and again welcomed 400+ delegates across five sessions. In 2025, GCNS adopted a revised format, with the second day held as a closed-door programme, bringing together around 40 national and international experts alongside 200+ conference delegates. Collectively, the GCNS conference reports have attracted over 27,000+ views, reflecting sustained engagement with the conference's outputs. GCNS remains India's foremost - and only - dialogue-driven conference dedicated to Chinese domestic politics, integrating emerging perspectives in New Sinology while convening South Asia’s largest gathering of Indian and international China scholars. Bringing together sinologists, scholars, policymakers, diplomats, industry experts and researchers from around the world, GCNS every edition continues with its aim to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the intellectual foundations of Chinese statecraft in New Delhi.

OTHER EDITIONS

ORCA has successfully held two editions of GCNS, featuring 110+ speakers and 500+ attendees over two days of dynamic discussion.

GCNS 2026

GCNS 2026

The Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) will be held from 28th-29th September 2026 on the theme 'Zìlì Gēngshēng in an Era of ‘Great Changes Unseen’ at The India International Centre, New Delhi.

Visit

GCNS 2025

GCNS 25

The Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) will be held on 23rd-24th September 2025 on the theme 'China’s ‘Dream’ for a New Mandate of Power' at The India International Centre, New Delhi.

Visit

GCNS 2024

GCNS 24

The Global Conference on New Sinology (GCNS) was held on 26th-27th September 2024 on the theme 'The Art of Power in Zhongnanhai' at The Grand, New Delhi.

Visit

Partners

Venue Partner

Venue Partner

The Grand, New Delhi is ORCA's GCNS 2023 Venue Partner.

Digital Partner

Digital Partner

KWAD is a software consulting firm that specializes in web-app, iOS & Android mobile application design and website development.

Content Partner

Content Partner

The Memo is a digital platform that provides the latest insights into forces shaping business and politics globally.

Research and Event Cooperation Partner

Research and Event Cooperation Partner

The Policy Perspectives Foundation (PPF) was founded in 2005 as a non-profit and apolitical think-tank on matters of national interest. The organisation’s activities focus on complex and inter-connected challenges to internal peace, stability and development in India.

Media Partner

Media Partner

StratNewsGlobal.com is an Indian niche venture that has established itself as an online media house that provides a judicious mix of on-ground reporting and in-depth analysis of events as they happen, in the strategic affairs, foreign policy and defence space. StratNews Global's coverage is also a valuable open-source intelligence as many dignitaries and people holding high offices talk to us on current affairs and international relations.

University Partner

University Partner

The Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies under the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (SNIoE) is a research centre focussed on the economy, borders and identities, the environment and regional geopolitics of the wider Himalayan region including the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram.

Think Tank Partner

Think Tank Partner

C3S is the only think tank based away from Delhi that carries out a focused study of China, and related dynamics in South Asia. The profile of research and discussion activities at C3S pivots on the in-depth study of developments relating to China with priority to issues of interest to India in various verticals - Business & Economics, Defence & Security, Geopolitics & Strategy, Society & Politics, Science & Technology, Human Rights & Law, Culture & History and Environment & Health.

Convenors

Eerishika Pankaj

Eerishika Pankaj is the Director of New Delhi based think-tank, the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA), which focuses on decoding domestic Chinese politics and its impact on Beijing’s foreign policymaking. She is also an Editorial and Research Assistant to the Series Editor for Routledge Series on Think Asia; a Young Leader in the 2020 cohort of the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program; a Commissioning Editor with E-International Relations for their Political Economy section; a Member of the Indo-Pacific Circle and a Council Member of the WICCI’s India-EU Business Council. Primarily a China and East Asia scholar, her research focuses on Chinese elite/party politics, the India-China border, water and power politics in the Himalayas, Tibet, the Indo-Pacific and India’s bilateral ties with Europe and Asia. In 2023, she was selected as an Emerging Quad Think Tank Leader, an initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Leaders Lead on Demand program. Eerishika is the co-editor of the book 'The Future of Indian Diplomacy: Exploring Multidisciplinary Lenses' and of the Special Issues on 'The Dalai Lama’s Succession: Strategic Realities of the Tibet Question' as well as 'Building the Future of EU-India Strategic Partnership'. She can be reached on [email protected]

Rahul Karan Reddy

Rahul Karan Reddy is a Senior Research Associate at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He works on domestic Chinese politics and trade, producing data-driven research in the form of reports, dashboards and digital media. He is the author of ‘Islands on the Rocks’, a monograph about the Senkaku/Diaoyu island dispute between China and Japan. Rahul was previously a research analyst at the Chennai Center for China Studies (C3S). He is the creator of the India-China Trade dashboard and the Chinese Provincial Development Indicators dashboard. His work has been published in The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, ISDP & Tokyo Review, among others. He can be reached via email at [email protected] and @RahulKaranRedd1 on Twitter.

Omkar Bhole

Omkar Bhole is a Senior Research Associate at the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He has studied Chinese language up to HSK4 and completed Masters in China Studies from Somaiya University, Mumbai. He has previously worked as a Chinese language instructor in Mumbai and Pune. His research interests are India’s neighbourhood policy, China’s foreign policy in South Asia, economic transformation and current dynamics of Chinese economy and its domestic politics. He was previously associated with the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) and What China Reads. He has also presented papers at several conferences on China. Omkar is currently working on understanding China’s Digital Yuan initiative and its implications for the South Asian region including India. He can be reached at [email protected] and @bhole_omkar on Twitter.

Ratish Mehta

Ratish Mehta is a Research Associate at the Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). He is a postgraduate in Global Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi and works on gauging India’s regional and global political interests. His area of focus include understanding the value of narratives, rhetoric and ideology in State and non-State interactions, deconstructing political narratives in Global Affairs as well as focusing on India’s Foreign Policy interests in the Global South and South Asia. He was previously associated with The Pranab Mukherjee Foundation and has worked on projects such as Indo-Sino Relations, History of the Constituent Assembly of India and the Evolution of Democratic Institutions in India. His forthcoming projects at ORCA include a co-edited Special Issue on India’s Soft Power Diplomacy in South Asia, Tracing India’s Path as the Voice of the Global South and Deconstructing Beijing’s ‘Global’ Narratives.

Ahana Roy

Ahana Roy was previously a Research Associate and Chief Operations Officer at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). She is a postgraduate in Political Science with International Relations from Jadavpur University. Her areas of interest include non-traditional security studies with a focus on gender and sexuality studies, society, and culture in China specifically and East Asia broadly. She can be reached on Twitter @ahanaworks and her email [email protected]