Bertram Lang is a research associate at Goethe University Frankfurt. His academic interest includes China’s non-profit sector, EU-China relations, and the politics of anti-corruption. Lang has also worked as an advisor to various international organizations on Global China affairs. He previously worked as an analyst in the European China Policy Unit of the Mercator Institute for China Studies.

His recent publications include an analysis of China’s impact on international anti-corruption norms and a study on the implementation of China’s social credit system. His comments have appeared in The New York Times, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, among other publications.

Lang studied Political Science and Chinese Studies in Freiburg (Germany), Nanjing (China), and Aix-en-Provence (France). He also holds a Master’s degree in EU International Relations from the College of Europe in Bruges. His professional career included stints at the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Stuttgart, the European Parliament in Brussels, and the Delegation of the European Union in Beijing.

Last Updated: March 30, 2021

Conversation

11.24.21

What Future for International NGOs in China?

Katherine Wilhelm, Shawn Shieh & more
Nearly five years have passed since China implemented its Foreign NGO Law, imposing a host of new restrictions on the activities of international non-profit groups. What kind of responsibility do non-government organizations bear for sustaining...
03.30.21

Shielding Corporate Interests, Europe Leaves NGOs Working in China by the Wayside

Bertram Lang
In late December 2020, at the end of a very turbulent year in Europe-China relations, and after more than seven years of often strenuous negotiations, the European Union (EU) and China agreed on the terms of a “Comprehensive Agreement on Investment...
01.29.20

A Better China Strategy for International Civil Society

Bertram Lang
Much of the European and American debate about China’s Foreign NGO Law has revolved around the trade-offs and opportunities associated with continuing activities in mainland China. However, the issues internationally operating NGOs face are far...

Reports

11.01.19

Scanning the Horizon

Bertram Lang
Bertram Lang
International Civil Society Centre
China’s growing influence in the world has been identified as one of the top global trends influencing the trajectory and development of other major trends relating to sustainable development. China’s relevance for civil society organisations (CSOs...

Viewpoint

05.30.18

Who’s Really Responsible for Digital Privacy in China?

Shazeda Ahmed & Bertram Lang
While the United States is reeling from the revelation that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 87 million Facebook accounts, China’s biggest tech companies and regulators are confronting a wave of of their own...
01.03.18

Why Has the Chinese Foreign NGO Law Become a Non-Issue in Europe?

Bertram Lang
Worries about the future of civil society organizations in China are limited to only a handful of European countries. Others put their faith in established informal ties or have subscribed to Chinese understandings of “people-to-people exchanges,”...

Reports

12.12.17

Central Planning, Local Experiments

Mareike Ohlberg, Shazeda Ahmed, Bertram Lang
Shazeda Ahmed & Bertram Lang
Mercator Institute for China Studies
The “Social Credit System” is designed to monitor and rate citizens and companies in China and to guide their behavior. “It is a wide-reaching project that touches on almost all aspects of everyday life,” the authors Mareike Ohlberg, Bertram Lang,...