At the invitation of YCA Dean Dong Qiang, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister of France and Shuhsi Hsü Chair Professor of Yenching Academy, participated in a dialogue at the Academy on September 28. Mr. Raffarin and Félicie Burelle, Chief Executive Officer of OPmobility SE of France, spoke on the theme “Two Generations of Political and Business Leaders with Deep-Rooted Ties to China,” conversing in-depth with Yenching Scholars as well. This was the first lecture within Yenching Academy Cross-Cultural Leadership Program this semester.
Before the lecture, Dean Dong hosted Mr. Raffarin and Ms. Burelle at Jingyuan Courtyard 3, updating the guests on the Academy’s China Studies program. YCA has a highly internationalized student body and prioritizes the development of its European student base. The Academy plans to hold exchange events in Central Europe to increase cooperation opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative. YCA alumni work across diverse sectors—some pursue doctoral degrees at top universities worldwide, while others return to their home countries, serving in diplomatic services or in trade and economic functions with China. And still others choose to stay and work in China, contributing to communication and exchange between China and the rest of the world. Yenching Academy offers strong support to its students for field study trips across China and visits to major companies and scientific institutes. Dean Dong noted that international experience is a key component of higher education, particularly in the era of AI. He also introduced relevant Chinese policies on attracting American and European international students and expressed the hope that more international students could come to study and understand China in China.
Ms. Burelle asked about the career development of international students who stayed in China after YCA. Dean Dong explained that the Academy’s two-year China Studies program provides its international students with the necessary guidance to understanding China, a vast and complex country. Most Yenching Scholars expressed meaningful interest in China before coming to study at the Academy and hoped to continue exploring the country after graduation. Burelle spoke highly of the Academy’s educational model, observing that a program like this was rarely available in years past. She believes that globalizing education is an inevitable trend and overseas study broadens young people’s perspective towards the world.
YCA Honorary Dean Yuan Ming and Associate Deans Fan Shiming and Brent Haas also attended the welcome session.
Following the welcome session, Mr. Raffarin and Ms. Burelle gave the lecture themed “A Dialogue on Leadership: Two Generations of Political and Business Leaders with Deep-Rooted Ties to China” at B102, Second Gymnasium, Peking University. The event was hosted by Dean Dong Qiang.
The two speakers first examined leadership from political and business perspectives. Mr. Raffarin, a veteran statesman, reflected on his experience in organizing international forums and articulated the essence of leadership in a volatile era. Leadership requires vision, execution, and team cohesion; it is about bringing people together, sticking to the truth, and fostering harmony. He noted that leadership is neither inherently good or inherently bad—additionally, leadership has the potential to be over-centralized or entirely absent. According to him, age is not a determinant of leadership; as for the role of gender, Mr. Raffarin saw little difference between men and women, although a male leader may act, communicate, and listen differently from his female counterpart. He emphasized that everyone is born with some leadership qualities and what matters in a leader is to uncover one’s own strengths and to see and unlock those of others.
Dean Dong then asked Ms Burelle about her experience and observations as a female leader. Burelle reflected that her parents never insisted on her attending a prestigious school; instead, they encouraged her to remain curious about the world, to travel widely, and to learn multiple languages. Thanks to her rich and varied upbringing, she has developed a coherent big-picture business perspective. Before returning to her family’s business, Burelle SA, Ms Burelle served in corporate finance sector for five years. Founded by Félicie Burelle’s grandfather in 1946, the company celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. Ms. Burelle stressed that your family name is no guarantee of your position in the family business and one must earn their own title. Corporate development takes precedence over individual interests, and a business leader must always give priority to the business development. She attributed the success of OPmobility SE, an industrial venture of her family’s business, to its agility and long-term perspective, reflected in strict investment discipline and firm control over capital. As the leader of her family business, Ms. Burelle upholds her family’s values—she often visits the factory floor, keeps in touch with employees and customers, balances business development and connection with local communities, and stays focused on the long-term strategy regardless of short-term distractions.
The dialogue extended to topics of China-Europe cooperation, market competition, and hydrogen energy industry. Mr. Raffarin conveyed the belief that Europe and China must not be adversaries. He suggested that amid the complex international landscape, France-China relations may be strengthened through upholding autonomous defense and industrial sovereignty, fostering healthy market competition, and advancing cooperation in strategic sectors. Citing the successful, long-lasting cooperation between Airbus and China, Mr. Raffarin relayed the hope that European enterprises would conduct joint R&D with their Chinese counterparts in the hydrogen energy industry at an early stage, so as not to fall behind again as they did in the EV sector. He observed that European society knows little about what China is truly like and that much needs to be done to foster mutual understanding and respect for future cooperation.
Ms. Burelle believes that market competition drives companies to innovate and reposition themselves and is thus conducive to industry development. OPmobility aims to rank among the global top 3 in all its business segments. She agreed with Chinese enterprises’ holistic perspectives on the industrial ecosystem and their efforts to integrate the industrial chain vertically and horizontally. Ms. Burelle related the hope that amid the intense competition on the Chinese automobile market, stakeholders could abide by the unified market rules and compete fairly. She then shared about OPmobility’s corporate social responsibility and philanthropic practice. OPmobility strives to put employee safety first, foster a diverse and inclusive corporate culture, and prioritize intergenerational knowledge transfer. The company has achieved its Phase 1 and Phase 2 CO2 emission reduction targets and led its suppliers to advance carbon neutrality together. A planned OPmobility foundation will focus on education, particularly to encourage women to engage in engineering and break up gender stereotypes about the sector.
The dialogue turned to a discussion of the global landscape. Dean Dong asked whether Europeans are worried about a possible bipolar world amid China-US rivalry. Mr Raffarin emphasized that Europe is not the same as the US and strategic divergences are obvious between the two. He expressed belief in a diverse perspective of the world: The EU was founded to pursue peace, not to seek hegemony; as a result, an integrated market has been formed across Europe, while retaining the political sovereignty of each country. According to Mr. Raffarin, the EU needs to pursue in-depth political dialogue with China well beyond economic and trade issues. Mr. Raffarin noted that China has never initiated any war; with her profound understanding of peace, China has been strictly disciplined. China has set an example for other major powers, while France has historically suffered from war. Mr. Raffarin observed that France and China have a shared aspiration for peace, and the two countries should join hands to safeguard world peace.
Drawing on the multinational presence of her family’s business, Ms. Burelle shared her experience running a multinational business; the business faces enormous uncertainty in its investment decisions amid entangled political and commercial conditions, including geopolitical factors, shifting supply chains, and national regulations. A multinational family business needs to navigate the geopolitical landscape across its host countries, to achieve robust growth and meet its long-term development goals.
To answer the question on the high cost of hydrogen energy commercialization, Ms. Burelle replied that she found it important to scale up the industry. In China’s latest Five-Year Plan, hydrogen energy constitutes an important part of the country’s national energy system. Although a full-fledged industrial ecosystem would facilitate the reduction of overall cost, Ms. Burelle noted shortcomings in green hydrogen production and storage in Europe. As for the collaborative innovation among government, enterprises, universities, and research institutes, Ms Burelle pointed that OPmobility reinforces industry-university-research collaborative synergy through cooperation with technical universities. OPmobility invests in VC funds, incubates startups, and organizes annual MITxOPmobility Symposiums. Before the event came to an end, the speakers and Dean Dong discussed how to enhance the relationship between China and Europe. Mr. Raffarin pointed that fear remains the biggest obstacle for China-Europe cooperation, as European society holds many misunderstandings of China. Europe was once also afraid of Japan’s rise as a technological power. A robust bilateral relationship hinges on exchange and mutual understanding of the each culture and people, and requires more exchange visits between political and business figures. The speakers concluded that each side needs to shake off long-held stereotypes and encourage more people-to-people contact on the premise of commonly observed rules. With this, they hope to eliminate prejudice and biases and lay a solid foundation for China-Europe cooperation.
Through this substantive dialogue, the speakers exchanged their insights on leadership, family business management, the hydrogen energy industry, and China-Europe cooperation from both political and business perspectives. The two guest speakers agreed that amid the increasingly complex and volatile global landscape, we must reject the antagonistic thinking and uphold the ideal of a multipolar world. Industrial collaboration and cultural exchange visits should be encouraged, to address shared challenges through pragmatic cooperation. This dialogue shed light on the economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between China and France and those between China and Europe at large. At the end of the event, Dean Dong presented a letter of appointment to Mr. Raffarin and gave gifts to the two speakers.
This dialogue was co-organized by the PKU National School of Development, the PKU Institute of New Structural Economics, and the PKU Lanyuan Centre. Lei Hong, Zheng Ruqing, Wang Xianqing, and Yu Jia attended the event.
