An international academic conference on „The Franco-German Axis and the Future of the European Union and of Chinese-European Relations“ took place at Tongji University, Shanghai, at the 21st and 22nd September 2018. Organized by the German Studies Center of Tongji University and the European Studies Center in collaboration with the University of Bonn, experts and scholars from China and Germany discussed these issues in an interdisciplinary dialogue. Main topics of the conference adressed the questions of challenges inside and outside the EU, the German-Franco Axis, the deepening of specific policy areas and recent trends and developments in Chinese-European relations. In a panel on the „Deepening of specific policy areas of the EU“ Prof. Dr. Michael Staack outlined and evaluated recent trends and developments in EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). In his talk on „Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO): A Step towards Strategic Autonomy or an Annex to NATO?“ he analyzed one of EU’s flagship projects in this policy field. Michael Staack pointed out, that there is a possible gap between expectations and results, an unresolved area of tension between EU and NATO and a clear tendency towards a stronger European role in NATO rather than strategic autonomy of the EU. In another panel on „The Franco-German Axis“, Dan Krause analyzed recent developments and political power shifts in Franco-German relations. In his speech on „German and French approaches towards intervention, multilateralism and the use of force in foreign policy: commonalities and differences“, he adressed these questions from the analytical perspective of the foreign policy culture approach. According to him, the divergence in their approaches towards the issues in question – notwithstanding their unprecedented degree of cooperation and relationship in nearly all policy fields – will remain, at least for quite some time. Thus France and Germany will have to cooperate despite these differences and find compromises, since under the current circumstances there is no alternative to this tandem.