CCG Conferences Report
The Eighth China Global Think Tank Innovation Forum, Beijing, October 23 & EU-China Think Tank Exchanges, October 24, 2023
After four years, the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) re-convened the Global Think Tank Innovation Forum by involving the largest number of international and Chinese think tanks in this series and since the abolishment of Covid restrictions in order to re-engage dialogues, resume in-person exchanges, and deepen understanding in challenging times.
Despite that official interactions between the United States and China have also resumed in recent months, both international and Chinese thought leaders who participated in the Forum manifested significant concerns regarding on-going tensions between the US and China, and also between Europe and China.
The fact is that less than two weeks before the conferences dramatic upheaval erupted in the Middle East while the war in Ukraine continues unabated. This backdrop complicated the already challenging global context by testing alliances and adherence to international norms. Even though a thaw in official relations between the US and China has enabled recent in-person exchanges between US cabinet officials and Chinese officials on a range of issues of common interest, the level of concern among think tank experts remains high.
Thought leaders from China and the US acknowledge that each has contributed to the tensions and that mutual steps need to be taken by each side to improve the situation. We have confidence that exchanges we have had together in Beijing lay the basis for future dialogues to generate useful proposals for improving the relations among our countries, to strengthen global governance and to shift the political dynamics. With all of our open sessions streamed online in and outside of China by CCG, we hope officials from our countries may gain from our experience and find ways forward to strengthen the world as a single international community.
Recent years have witnessed the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, being locked in escalating strategic competition that is rooted in the geopolitical realism characteristic of systems of balance of power. The continuously increasing intensity of confrontational narratives between the United States and China and vice versa threaten to bifurcate the international community, pressuring countries to choose sides, when in fact the current context requires that the international community becomes whole, unified and stronger to address the current panoply of risks. The bilateral polemics have not only dominated geopolitics, but have permeated, overwhelmed and undermined global relations in general and global governance for multilateral problem-solving in particular.
Internationally, CCG partnered with two entities -- the China-West Dialogue (CWD), and the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels -- to flesh out and facilitate exchanges among leading think tank experts from China and around the world. Over fifty think tanks from twenty countries participated in the two-day event, as well as over twenty think tanks from China. Domestically, the partner for the first-day event is the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).
The China-West Dialogue (CWD) draws together thought leaders from China, Canada, Chile, Europe, the UK, Japan, Korea and the United States. It seeks to define an “alternative framework” for China-West relations at a moment when the toxic US-China bilateral relationship dominates geopolitics and global governance, stalling progress and disrupting coordination vital to addressing global systemic risks. The CWD’s fundamental goal is to reshape the narratives and behaviors of US-China relation from friction to function by engaging other middle and major powers in “reframed” China-West relations in multilateral processes and other public forums.
This reframing of the bilateral relationship into a pluralized China-West relationships enables new political dynamics to over-ride the binary, bipolar dynamics by generating complexity and professionalism instead of polemics. As a result, Europe’s role in international relations and geopolitics as an independent player and equivalent power becomes crucial to inducing these new dynamics.
The EU-China Think Tank Exchanges, a separate event held at the same vennue in the following day funded by the European Union and in partnership between CCG with EPC, enabled a gathering of thought leaders on EU-China relations and global governance.
The combination of the two days’ exchange benefited from the complementarities between the reframing efforts of the China-West Dialogue and the importance of pluralism in its alternative framework and the pivotal roles that Europe plays in actualizing that dynamic, elucidated by European participants.
The meetings reaped the benefits of the synergies generated by the CWD contributions on the first day and the EPC focus on Europe-China relations and cooperation on the second day. In turn, the CWD contributions derived from its four year history consisting of thirty zoom sessions involving more than sixty participants from seventeen countries, the involvement of twenty CWD regulars in the VIth Global Solutions Summit in Berlin last May including a strong delegation from CCG, a full-day workshop in Boston at the end of July to generate an outline for a CWD vision statement, and the full day focus on CWD findings in Beijing on Monday October 23. This will be followed by a workshop to be held in Washington in late November.
Over a period of three years, the EPC, together with its Chinese think tank partners led by the CCG, encouraged experts, analysts and policymakers from Europe and China to discuss issues such as post-COVID-19 cooperation, climate action and environment, global economy, digitalisation, connectivity, human rights and peace and security in international affairs, among many others. A series of structured exchanges between intellectual and strategic thinkers promoted the EU-China dialogue and supported mutual understanding and joint action in several relevant and cross-cutting policy areas and issues of mutual concern. This will be followed by other exchanges to be held online and in Europe. (Enditem)
All the open sessions of the two-day event have been streamed online by CCG and remain available domestically. Photos are also available. CCG will share the English-language transcripts of the open sessions via its newsletters, like below.
Wang Huiyao, CCG founder and President, opened the first-day event.
CPAFFC President Yang Wanming of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries delivered a welcoming speech.
Jiang Jianguo, Standing Committee Member of the CPPCC National Committee, Deputy Director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, and Executive Vice President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, made a speech.
Gao Anming, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of China International Publishing Group, made a speech.
The first roundtable session was given the theme "Crossroads of Global Order: The Way Forward" and was chaired by CCG President Wang Huiyao. In recent years, conflicts such as Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine have divided the world into different camps, deepening global fragmentation. At this crossroads, a distinguished panel of experts and leaders gathered to exchange views on reaching consensus and exploring paths forward to address global challenges. Roundtable panelists included:
Rong Ying, Vice President of China Institutes for International Studies (CIIS)
Colin Bradford, Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Global Economy and Development Program, The Brookings Institution; Co-Lead, the China-West Dialogue
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive, European Policy Centre
H.E. Dr. Khalid Al Khater, Director of Policy Planning Department at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar
Erik Solheim, Vice Chairman, Europe-Asia Center; former Under-Secretary-General of UN
Chen Wenling, Chief Economist, China Center for International Economic Exchange (CCIEE)
Mohamed Amersi, Founder and Chairman of the Amersi Foundation
Bruno Liebhaberg, Director General, Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE)
Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
SHI Yinhong, Chairman of Academic Committee of the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China
James Laurenceson, Director, Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), University of Technology Sydney
Wang Yong, Professor and Director of Center for American Studies, Peking University
Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow, CATO Institute
Gladden J. Pappin, President, Institute of Hungarian International Affairs
Sun Jisheng, Vice President, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU)
Joseph Nye, University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
Jeff Nankivell, President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
Next, the first of two China-West Roundtables focused on "Exploring China-US and China-West Relations under a Vision of International Relations Multilateralism", co-chaired by CCG President Wang Huiyao and Colin Bradford, Senior Fellow of the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and co-initiator of the China-West Dialogue. Attendees included:
Zhu Feng , Executive Dean of School of International Studies, Nanjing University
Michael Pillsbury, Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
Fabian Zuleeg, Chief Executive and Chief Economist, European Policy Centre (EPC)
Ren Xiao, Professor, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University; Director, Centre for Chinese Diplomatic Studies
Cui Fan , Professor, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)
Erik Balsbaugh, Senior Vice President, New Ground Strategies
Wang Lili, Deputy Dean of National Institute of Development and Strategy, Remin University of China
Matt Ferchen, Senior Research Scholar and Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center at Yale University Law School
Heiwai Tang, Associate Dean, Business School of Hong Kong University
Emanuel Yi Pastreich, Director, The Asia Institute
He Weiwen, CCG Senior Fellow; former Commercial Counsellor at Chinese Embassy in New York and San Francisco
George S. Geh, Chief Executive Officer, China Institute in America
Jiang Shan, CCG Senior Fellow; former Director-General of MOFCOM Department of American and Oceanic Affairs
Xu Zhengzhong, Deputy Dean of Institute for International Strategic Studies, National Academy of Governance
Lü Xiang, CCG Senior Fellow; Specialist in American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Director, Research Department, Hong Kong China Academic Research Institute
Li Chen, Associate Dean, School of International Studies, Renmin University of China
The second China-West Roundtable focused on "International Norms and Platforms for International Exchanges", co-chaired by CCG President Wang Huiyao and Colin Bradford, Senior Fellow of the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution and co-initiator of the China-West Dialogue. Attendees included:
Bruno Liebhaberg, Director General, Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE)
Francoise Nicolas, Director of Center for Asian and Indopacific Studies, French Institute of International Relations (ifri)
Dai Rujun, Director of the Department of International Human Right Law at Institute of International law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Shada Islam, Senior Adviser, European Policy Center
Su Hao, Founding Director of Center for Strategic and Peace Studies, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU); CCG Nonresident Senior Fellow
LI Huailiang, Director, Institute for a Community with a Shared Future, Communication University of China (CUC)
Zhu Xufeng, Dean of School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Tu Xinquan, Dean, China Institute for WTO Studies, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)
Yu Hongjun, CCG Advisor; former Vice Minister, CPC International Department
Martin Albrow, Emeritus Professor of the University of Wales' and 'Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences' (FAcSS)
Christian Kastrop, Professor for Public Finance at the Free University Berlin; former State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Germany
Wang Yizheng, Jean Monnet Chair Professor and Director of International Affairs, Renmin University of China
CHEN Yang, Executive Director of Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)
Tim Summers, Assistant Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; former Chatham House Consultant Fellow
Gladden J. Pappin, President, Institute of Hungarian International Affairs
Peter Walker, Co-Chair, China Institute in America
Julia Ganter, Programme Director International Affairs; Editor-in-Chief, The Berlin Pulse, Körber-Stiftung
Zhang Wei, Co-Director, Professor of Law at Institute for Human Rights, China University of Political Science and Law
Agnes Michalik, Managing Director, The Global Solutions Initiative
At the EU-China Think Tank Exchanges on Tuesday, opening speeches were delivered by WANG Huiyao, President, CCG; former Counselor to the State Council
Amb. Jorge Toledo Albiñana, EU Ambassador to China
Amb. WU Hailong, President, China Public Diplomacy Association; former Chinese Ambassador to the EU
The first thematic discussion on "EU-China Relations: Review and Outlook" was moderated by Ricardo Borges de Castro, Vice President and Head of the "Europe in the World" Project at the European Policy Centre.
Participants include
Fabian Zuleeg, CEO and Chief Economist of the European Policy Centre
Janka Oertel, Director of the Asia Program at the European Centre for International Political Economy
Francoise Nicolas, Senior Research Fellow at the French Institute of International Relations and Head of the Center for Asian and Indo-Pacific Studies
Cui Hongjian, Professor at the Institute for Advanced Regional and Global Governance of the Beijing Foreign Studies University and Senior Fellow of CCG
Sun Yongfu, former Director-General of the Europe Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Senior Fellow of CCG,
Dai Changzheng, Dean of the School of International Relations at UIBE and Senior Fellow of CCG shared insights on the progress and prospects of China-EU relations in recent years.
The second thematic discussion focused on "China-EU Cooperation in Global Governance", moderated by Ivano di Carlo, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre. Participants included
Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova,Head of Asia Research Programme, Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA)
Shada Islam, Senior Adviser, European Policy Center
Bart Dessein, Senior Advisor, Egmont Institute
Amanda Paul, Senior Policy Analyst,European Policy Centre
WANG Yiwei, Jean Monnet Chair Professor and Director of International Affairs, Renmin University of China
JING Ling, Director, Department for European Studies, China Institutes of International Studies (CIIS)
GU Xuewu, Director of Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn
In the final session, participants include
Wang Huiyao, President of CCG and former Counselor to China’s State Council
Bart Dessein, Senior Advisor at the Royal Institute of International Relations of Belgium
Jin Ling, Director of the European Studies Institute of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
Fabian Zuleeg, CEO of the European Policy Centre delivered concluding remarks.
Journalists from Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse (AFP), NBC, The Guardian, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Science Monitor, Deutsche Welle (DW), Het Financieele Dagblad, Die Presse, Das Erste, etc. attended. Representatives from the U.S., British, German, Belgian, Ukrainian, Quatari, South Korean, Hungarian, Singaporean, Iranian, and Romanian embassies in China also attended.