On the morning of June 13, 2014, the Delegation of Britain’s top military institution Royal College of Defense Studies (RCDS) paid a visit to the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University (PKU). The delegation included sixteen senior officers from 9 countries, namely, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Israel and Norway, who are studying in RCDS. Headed by Steven Abbott, a Major General in British Royal Air Force, the delegation also included officers from the British Embassy in China, such as Brigadier Simon Levey, Defense Attaché, Major Jez Parrott, Assistant Defense attaché, and Matt Jones, First Secretary and other escorts.

The first part of the exchange was a symposium chaired by Yu Tiejun, Associate Professor and Assistant President of IISS, PUK. Prof. Zha Daojiong and Associate Prof. Wang Dong from School of International Studies (SIS), PKU, attended the discussions at the symposium. Some undergraduates, postgraduates, and doctoral students from SIS also participated in the entire event.

At the symposium, members of the delegation had in-depth discussions with the three professors on topics of mutual concerns, such as the international situation faced by China, the present economic development, the issue of North Korea, Sino-Japanese relations, Sino-US relations, maritime disputes and “One Country, Two Systems”.

At the end of the symposium, Hisham Al-yami, Colonel of Saudi Arabian National Guard, expressed gratitude on behalf of RCDS, and exchanged gifts with IISS, PKU.

After the symposium, the visiting delegation had lunch with teachers and working staff of IISS and students from SIS and had one-to-one in-depth discussions on topics such as international situations and students’ education in PKU. The visiting foreign military officers were deeply impressed by the outstanding international perspective and language proficiency of students from SIS. This exchange event finally achieved a complete success.