From May 24 to 26, 2021, Executive Vice President Guan Guihai attended the 2021 Annual conference of the Council of Councils hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on behalf of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Pecking University (PKU). Participants included Prof. Zha Daojiong, School of International Studies, PKU, Zhao Minghao, Special Research Fellow of IISS, PKU, and Young Research Fellow, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University/Center for American Studies of Fudan University, a key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, Prof. Li Wei, School of International Studies, Renmin University of China (RUC), and Associate Professor Li Chen, School of International Studies, RUC.

28 think tanks from 24 countries were present at the 10th annual conference, including IISS of PKU and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies as representatives of the Chinese think tanks. They discussed the following six major topics: “The Biden administration and the future of multilateralism”, “Addressing the challenges of nuclear proliferation”, “Concert from a new power?”, “COVID-19 vaccines and international cooperation”, and “The state of global governance in the age of COVID-19”.

The Council of Councils is a global think tank network initiated and set up by the Council on Foreign Relations, aiming to connect the major foreign policy research institutions in various countries, establish honest dialogue regarding global governance and multilateral cooperation, bring together intelligence from different sides so as to cope with common threats, sponsor innovative ideas and provide suggestions and solutions to the member states in their debate on and decision-making of public policies. The Council is currently made up of well-known think tanks from 24 countries, the members of which are substantially similar to those of G20. Its member list is available at the Council of Councils roster page.

Editor: Li Fangqi