Frank Sieren

Frank Sieren is one of Germany’s leading experts on China. He is a columnist for the *
* *Handelsblatt* and has written more books on China than any other German journalist. Frank Sieren has lived in China for nearly a quarter of a century. Frank Sieren (*1967*) studied political science with a focus on economics at the University of Trier and subsequently at the Otto Suhr Institute of the Free University of Berlin. Throughout his journalistic career, he has worked for publications including the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, and Deutsche Welle. Frank Sieren has lived and worked in Beijing since 1994 and has made a name for himself through his reporting on the People’s Republic of China and its political and economic developments. No Western business journalist has lived in China longer than he has.

Frank Sieren is the author of numerous TV documentaries for ARD and ZDF, including the first-ever documentary on China’s involvement in Africa. He is a co-founder and host of the Bosch Foundation’s Media Forum China, the most high-profile annual event for German and Chinese journalists, which has been held since 2010. In 2017, the forum was expanded to include the United States, becoming a trilateral meeting.

His books on China regularly become bestsellers, are highly praised by critics, and have sparked a broad debate on Asia in Germany. Frank Sierens’ analyses convinced Helmut Schmidt at the time to co-author a book with him titled *China: Our Neighbor*. For this project, Schmidt granted him access to unpublished transcripts of his numerous conversations with top Chinese politicians.

The London Times calls Frank Sieren “Germany’s leading expert on China,” and with *
* and his in-depth, firsthand knowledge, Frank Sieren has become a highly sought-after speaker at events and conferences. Sieren’s exploration of economics and politics not only helps us understand how China works, but also shows how we must reposition Germany to avoid being sidelined.