China and the World: Switzerland’s China Strategy, With Ambassador Raphael Naegeli
Season 1, Episode 6
In politics, if you are criticized from all sides, it’s usually a sign you’ve reached a good compromise. So it was with Switzerland’s recently unveiled China Strategy: It was seen as either being too harsh or way too lax on China. Swiss Ambassador Raphael Naegeli shares with us why Switzerland’s new China Strategy is a good step forward and not all that different from other countries’ approaches.
Your host: Nico Luchsinger, Executive Director, Asia Society Switzerland
Moderator: Nico Luchsinger
Speaker: Ambassador Raphael Naegeli, Head of the Asia Pacific Division, The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland
Production: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society Switzerland
Ambassador Raphael Naegeli is Head of the Asia Pacific Division in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) since August 2018. Following professional experiences in journalism and banking, he started his diplomatic career in 1998 at the Office of European Integration within the FDFA. Subsequently he was posted at the Embassies in Sarajevo and Budapest and from 2002-2004 as first collaborator of the Swiss Embassy Sarajevo. With his return to Bern in 2004, he became head of policy planning at the Human Security Division of the FDFA. From 2008-2011, he was seconded to the International Civilian Office, a supervisory body for the newly independent state of Kosovo where he headed the Unit for Minority Integration. Returning to Bern in 2011, Raphael Naegeli first became Regional Coordinator for South Eastern Europe, 2012 Deputy Head in the rank of a Minister, and 2015 Head of the Task Force for the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship. From 2016-2018 Raphael Naegeli was Deputy Head of the Human Security Division of the FDFA with rank of Minister. Ambassador Raphael Naegeli speaks German, French, English, Italian, Russian and Serbian/Croatian. He attended schools in Zurich and graduated in 1996 with a Master of Philosophy after studies in History, Economy and History of Eastern Europe at the University of Zurich and Free University Berlin.
Sources:
Interview with Ambassador Raphael Naegeli with Asia Society Switzerland’s Nico Luchsinger, June 17, 2021
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