Mikko Huotari is the Executive Director of MERICS. His research focuses on China’s political and economic development, foreign policy, China-Europe relations, as well as geoeconomic 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.

Mikko 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, Mikko was appointed as one of 15 German representatives to the German-Chinese Dialogue Forum. Since January 28, 2026, he is a member of the “Commission on reviewing economic relations between Germany and China with relevance for security” of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy.