Time:2012/5/4 

On 23rd March 2012 Peking University’s Center for International and Strategic Studies held its annual Board of Director’s Meeting and an academic symposium on ‘Contemporary International Affairs’ at the Carnegie Conference Hall in the Wenjin International Hotel, Beijing. Over thirty board members and academics attended the event. Professor Yuan Ming, Vice Director of the Center, chaired the Board of Director’s Meeting.

Firstly, Xiao Qun, Vice Director of Peking University's Social Sciences Faculty, took the opportunity to congratulate the Center for International and Strategic Studies on behalf of Peking University for successfully convening the Board of Director's Meeting and the academic symposium. Xiao Qun expressed admiration for all the Center’s various achievements and progress made to date. He also expressed gratitude and offered support to the Center's leaders and academics and expressed high hopes for the Center's future developments.

The Center's Director, Professor Wang Jisi, read out the names of all directors and academics who have been involved in the Center’s work during 2011, and introduced the 12 new directors and 2 academics who have recently joined the Center. He also presented a report on the Center's work during this period, summarising research projects, important publications, academic exchanges, training of new talent and plans for future development. Deputy Director Professor Yu Tiejun then outlined the Center's key projects and plans for 2012.

    The delegates at the meeting then offered their opinions and advice regarding the Center's work to date. Speakers included: 

    He Yafei, Deputy Director of the State Council for Overseas Chinese Affairs 

    Han Fangming, Deputy Director of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Director of Peking University's College of Engineering

    Professor Chen Shiyi, Director of Graduate Studies

    Professor Zhou Qiren, Director of the National Development Research College at Peking University

    Chen Xiaogong, Vice Director of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's Leadership Group Office

    Xu Bu, the Foreign Ministry's Vice Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs

    He Di, Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and Chairman of Hong Kong's Boyuan Foundation.

The Board of Directors then discussed and approved the Center's planned projects for 2012. 

During the first half of the academic symposium, which followed the Board of Director's Meeting, discussion focused on 'Contemporary International Affairs'. Professor Jia Qingguo, a board member of the Center for International and Strategic Studies and Associate Dean of the School for International Studies at Peking University, chaired the event. The Director of the Research Institute for Contemporary Chinese International Relations, Professor Cui Liru, pointed out that the world is undergoing a period of change where global governance and national governance are of equal importance and foreign and domestic affairs are increasingly intertwined. Chinese diplomacy is currently faced with the necessity to restructure and undergo high level planning. Of central importance will be research pertaining to the most fundamental problems facing China's strategy. In addition, he stressed the need to undertake a thorough analysis of China's diplomatic achievements and failures thus far. Le Yucheng, Assistant Director of China's Foreign Ministry, emphasised several key issues, including the trends within changes occurring in international affairs, the situation in Southwest Asia and North Africa, developments in Sino-American relations and the organic fusion between academic research and actual foreign policy and practice. After the main speakers had presented their ideas, scholars engaged in enthusiastic discussion about key issues such as America's strategy in Asia, multilateral diplomacy in the Asia Pacific region, the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and thinking and creativity behind China's diplomacy theory.

During the second half of the academic symposium, discussion focused on 'Contemporary Chinese Diplomatic Relations'. The discussion was chaired by Professor Niu Jun, Deputy Director of the Center. Zhang Tuosheng, the Director of China's International Strategy Research Foundation, stressed that non-traditional security concerns were of increasing importance, and emphasised the importance of the role of great power coordination in international affairs and the changes occurring in China's policy towards North Korea. Professor Zhu Weilie, the Director of the Middle Eastern Research Institute at Shanghai's Foreign Languages University, outlined the main changes occurring in Arab politics as well as to China's Middle Eastern foreign policy and discussed the recent measures taken in response to regional changes. Participating scholars discussed adjustments to China's diplomatic style and thinking, and also China's contemporary strategy in Africa. Finally, Professor Wang Jisi, Director of the Center, gave his concluding remarks.