On November 18, 2015, the Crisis Management and Anti-Terrorism Research Center at the SIAS co-hosted a seminar on the latest Paris attacks and their implications for counter-terrorism policies with the Center of West Asia and North African Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), and the Center of West Asian and North African Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). Experts from the organizers as well as specialists from the Shanghai Counter-Terrorism Research Center, Fudan University, Shanghai International Studies University, East China University of Science and Technology, and Shanghai Far East Publishers, attended the seminar.

Attendees analyzed the intrinsic triggers of the shocking incidents in the French capital. As they examined the French counter-terrorism system, participants also summed up the emerging characteristics of terrorism in the wakes of the attacks. ISIL attacks are rapidly spreading, resulting in brutal violence to those “soft targets” in Europe. This means that before long, the world may witness more scenes of terror, which will in turn bring even more severe challenges to international counterterrorism. With the Western world falling prey to terrorist groups, Europe is likely to turn into the front line of the war on terror. 

Experts at the meeting also discussed the adjustments the US, Russia and the major member states of the EU may make in their counterterrorism strategies,
and how that would affect China.