Mikko Huotari
Executive Director, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS)
Mikko Huotari is the Executive Director of MERICS. His research focuses on China’s foreign policy, China-Europe relations and global (economic) governance and competition. He has published on China’s rise as a financial power, trade and investment relations with Europe as well as on geopolitical shifts related to China's emergence as a global security actor.
Huotari studied in Freiburg, Nanjing and Shanghai. He holds a PhD from Freiburg University and was a guest scholar at the University of California in San Diego in 2017/2018. In 2019, Huotari was appointed as one of 15 German representatives to the German-Chinese Dialogue Forum.
Featured work
The future of CAI
Untangling the politics behind the EU – China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
All work
Event
14 October 2025
China Horizons: EU policy Takeaways from China’s politics, economy, foreign policy, society and EU-China dynamics
The final conference of the China Horizons research consortium
Event
31 August 2023
Event
28 February 2023
The transformation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: What is in it for Europe?
Closed-door event discussing China's BRI project.
Podcast
07 April 2021
The future of CAI
Untangling the politics behind the EU – China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
Event
09 September 2019
China-EU investment relations: Exploring competition and industrial policies
This is a closed-door workshop jointly organised by MERICS and Bruegel looking at China-EU investment relations.