On Sep. 19, 2017, the 3rd session of China-Europe Forum was co-held by the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University (PKU) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).On the conference themed by “Peace and Security of China and Europe”, participants conducted in-depth discussion on global strategies and regional hot issues from the perspective of China and Europe respectively.

In the first unit entitled “The security and development aid in Africa”, discussions were held by Bernardo Mariani, Chinese Program Director from Safterworld organization, Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Paris Office Director from ECFR, Associate Prof. Liu Haifang, Secretary General of Center of African Studies in Peking University (CASPU) and Zhang Chun, Director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies (IFPS) from Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) on the following four topics: the changeable landscape of African peacekeeping operations, the comparison between Chinese and European perspectives concerning the strategic role of Djibouti, anti-terrorism cooperation and evaluation of the impact of development assistance on security and stability in this region.

In the second unit entitled “Syria and Afghanistan: conflict resolution and peace-building”, speeches were given by Marc Otte, Former Special Envoy of European Union (EU) to Middle East, Angela Stanzel, Research Fellow from ECFR, Li Guofu, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) from China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and Associate Prof. Wang Suolao, Director of Center of Middle East Studies (CMES) in Peking University (PKU) respectively on the impact of external intervention on Syrian civil wars, Syrian peace roadmap, Afghan diplomatic mediation and Afghan military activities.

The third unit entitled “The nuclear non-proliferation agenda”, contained topics including lessons learned for EU-China relations from interactions during the Iran nuclear deal negotiations, discussion about Iran Nuclear Agreement’s feasibility under the new round of strategic environment, the comparison between sanction systems targeting Iran and North Korea and the destiny of North Korean denuclearization. Speeches were given by scholars including Mathieu Duchâtel, Vice Director of Asian and Chinese Program from ECFR, Mohammad Ali Shabani, Middle East scholar of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at University of London (UL) and Li Chen, Lecturer in School of International Studies (SIS) at Renmin University of China (RUC).

Before closing, Prof. Wang Jisi, President of IISS, PKU and François Godement, Director of Asian and Chinese Program from ECFR respectively delivered a speech, congratulated on the success of the conference and sincerely wished a bright prospect for China-Europe security and peace cooperation.