On January 23, 2016, the SIAS and the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) jointly organized the seminar “2016: World Situation Prospects and China’s Role”, with support from the Oriental Morning Post and The Paper. Keynote speeches were made by Chen Xiaogong, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress and former deputy director at the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, and Yu Hongjun, former vice minister of the International Department, Central Committee of CPC, and vice chairman of Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament. 

Scholars and media representatives from Shanghai, Beijing and other parts of China, attended the seminar, including Liu Ming, Director of the Institute of International Relations, SASS, Hu Hua, Executive Director at the SIAS, Tao Wenzhao, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Xia Liping, Dean of the Institute of International & Public Affairs, Tongji University, and Ye Jiang, a professor from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. Huang Renwei, Vice President of the SASS, opened and concluded the seminar.

Participants discussed current topics, such as the US presidential election and the dynamics of China-US relations; tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the development trend of China-Japan relations; the crisis in Europe and the Middle East and further spread of terrorism risks; Russia, South Asia and China’s G20 diplomacy; and the political changes in Southeast Asian countries and the South China Sea dispute.