Co-hosted by the Social Sciences in China Press (SSCP) and Tongji University and organized by the Institute for China & World Studies and the School of Political Science & International Relations (SPSIR), Tongji University, the 3rd Forum on China & World Studies was held at Tongji on May 18, 2019. Dozens of experts and scholars from institutions including Tongji University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, Nankai University, Beihang University, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) gathered in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tongji University. With the theme of “Mutual Learning among Civilizations towards a Community of Shared Future”, participants discussed major issues related to national strategy and global exchanges on the basis of mutual learning between civilizations, explored the strategic value of national and global governance for building a global community of shared future, and demonstrated China’s concept innovation and strategic actions in handling its relations with the world, bringing together authoritative and creative academic consensus and wisdom. Researcher Wang Limin, Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief of SSCP, and Professor Jiang Bo, Vice President of Tongji, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. The opening ceremony was moderated by Professor Men Honghua, President of Tongji Institute for China & World Studies and Dean of SPSIR.

At the opening ceremony, Wang Limin first expressed his sincere respect to the experts and professors coming all the way, and expressed his heartfelt thanks to SSCP’s strategic partner Tongji University and its Institute for China & World Studies and SPSIR. He pointed out that the theme “Mutual Learning among Civilizations towards a Community of Shared Future” shows that China’s academic circle is further deepening its explanation and summary of the China miracle, from Chinese path and experience to Chinese solutions and wisdom. Facing the future, especially the key time nodes and challenges to China’s modernization drive, experts and scholars are required to take both the domestic and international situations into consideration and take exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations as basic considerations to jointly explore the essential connotations of China’s peaceful development path and contribute rational wisdom to the building of a global community of shared future and China’s path of peaceful development and modernization. This echoes General Secretary Xi Jinping’s proposal of “improving China’s academic and theoretic level, and turning Chinese experience into academic theories, principles and disciplines”. And this is also a contribution this forum tried to make.

Professor Jiang Bo, Vice President of Tongji, first reviewed the results of the previous forums and expressed sincere gratitude to the trust of SSCP and to the participants for their long-term support and encouragement.

The formal agenda was comprised of four sessions, during which some participants delivered impressive keynote speeches.

The first session “China-World Interaction and a Global Community of Shared Future” was moderated by Li Fang, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Chinese Social Sciences Net (CSSN). In his speech “China’s Road to a Global Community of Shared Future”, Prof. Bao Xinjian, Honorary Dean of the School of Political Science and Law at University of Jinan and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Political Science, pointed out that China’s road to a global community of shared future should be a road of reform and opening up, a road of improving people’s well-being, and a road of exchange among civilizations. China should focus on strategic issues including making the country stronger through institutional development and governance improvement, so that we can better participate in international competition and build a global community of shared future. Prof. Cai Tuo, Director of the Globalization and Global Issues Institute at CUPL, revisited the development of China-world relations around the topic of “Review of and Reflection on the China-World Relations”. He believed that in the new era, it is necessary to manage and overcome the tension between the concept and practice of a global community of shared future, and attach importance to the positive value of cosmopolitanism. Wu Xiaoming, a professor at the School of Philosophy, Fudan University, gave a speech entitled “Multiple Paths of Mutual Learning among Civilizations and the Chinese Approach”. So far, there have been three paths of exchange among nations, i.e. war migration, commercial trade, and cultural exchange; and modernity and modern world are opening up new possibilities for mutual learning among civilizations. For China, completing the task of modernization means opening up the possibility of a new type of civilization, and only on this basis can mutual learning among civilizations be truly achieved.

Next, Pan Zhongqi, a professor at the School of International Relations & Public Affairs, Fudan University, gave a speech entitled “Marxist Thought on Social Community and a Global Community of Shared Future”. He introduced the Marxist thought on community, and believed that it was at least an important source of the concept of a global community of shared future. Dean Men Honghua pointed out in his speech entitled “China’s World Ideal and the Dimensions to Realize It” that the rise of any major power is closely related to its world ideal. China has always had its own unique vision of the world since ancient times. The proposal and enrichment of “a global community of shared future” has helped the formation of China’s world ideal in the new era, which should be realized through systematic strategic practices. Zou Shipeng, a professor at the School of Philosophy, Fudan University, shared his understanding of the Chinese road and the reshaping of the logic of world history in his speech entitled “Dialogue among Civilizations and the Expression of China’s Development Path”. He said that China should prepare theoretically for the national rise to communicate China’s stories and development to the outside world through diverse forms. At the end of this session, Tongji Distinguished Professor Li Bin, Vice Chairman of the Professor Committee of SPSIR, summarized and commented on the above speeches.

The second session was moderated by Prof. Cai Tuo, with the theme of “Modernizing National Governance and Building a Global Community of Shared Future”. Chen Zhouwang, a professor at the School of International Relations & Public Affairs, Fudan University, explored the discourse adaptability of “governance state” to China by analyzing the connotation and evolution of governance state. Prof. Tong Dezhi, Dean of the College of Politics & Public Administration at Tianjin Normal University, analyzed the internal logic between governance and democracy in his speech “Governance Absorbs Democracy – Strategic Choice for National Governance in the Contemporary World”. According to Prof. Tong, there are conflicts and tensions between democracy and governance, leading to the governance dilemma of democracy and the democratic dilemma of governance; the effectiveness of the composite structure of democratic governance depends on the emergence of the resultant effect of democratic governance; the dual pursuit of democracy and governance will naturally form a composite structure in system and mechanism. Prof. Kong Fanbin, Dean of the School of Government at Nanjing University, gave a speech entitled “Global Governance from the Perspective of Public Administration” by taking public services as the starting point. It was followed by SPSIR professor Yu Minjiang who spoke on the topic of “Smart Environmental Governance Driven by Big Data”. At last, Prof. Wu Xiaoming commented on the above speeches from a philosophical perspective.

The third session themed “Transformation of Global Governance and a New Model of International Relations” was moderated by Yuan Zhengqing, a research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), CASS. Prof. Sun Jisheng, Vice President of CFAU, made a speech on “Global Governance in the Context of Building a Global Community of Shared Future”. As pointed out by her, a global community of shared future further emphasizes process governance, cooperative governance and connected governance, which embodies an innovative discourse of China’s outlook on global governance. The speaker representing Prof. Zhao Yiliang, Deputy Dean of the School of Marxism, Beihang University, introduced the theoretical and practical dilemmas of global governance transformation in terms of legitimacy, collective action and global leadership, and suggested that these dilemmas can be effectively handled and improved by the advantages of a global community of shared future such as a common human identity, the values of friendship, justice and shared interests, and a governance pattern featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Then, Prof. Li Bin elaborated on the new changes in China’s external strategic environment amid “the profound changes unseen in a century”. He believed that China should make progress cautiously during the “profound changes”, and continue to emphasize risk awareness and bottom-line thinking.

On the topic of “Major-Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics from a Holistic View of National Security”, researcher Feng Weijiang, Director of the National Security Research Office, IWEP, CASS, pointed out that China’s diplomatic supply structure in the new era also needs to be adjusted and upgraded in order to truly realize the lasting peace and common prosperity emphasized by a global community of shared future. Prof. Liu Zhongmin, Director of the Middle East Studies Institute (MESI) at SISU, discussed “China’s values of friendship, justice and shared interests in dealing with developing countries” and their connection with a global community of shared future. Prof. Xia Liping from SPSIR spoke on the topic of “Building a New Model of International Relations and China’s Neighboring Diplomacy”, proposing that China should advance the great process of building a global community of shared future and a new model of international relations to push China’s neighboring diplomacy to a new level. Finally, Wu Zhicheng, Director of the Office for International Academic Exchanges, and a professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, commented on the wonderful speeches and made a concise summary of this section.

The fourth session, moderated by Prof. Bao Xinjian, explored the theme of “Building a Global Community of Shared Future and China’s Strategic Practices”. In his speech “The Concept of a Global Community of Shared Future from the Perspective of Innovations in International Relations Theory”, Prof. Wu Zhicheng, Director of the Office for International Academic Exchanges at Nankai University, explained the basic laws and experience of building the IR theory, and talked about the possibility of developing China’s IR theory. Then, Prof. Liu Zhenye, Deputy Director of the Globalization and Global Issues Institute at CUPL, discussed the new development situation of globalization, global governance and globalism in his speech “A Global Community of Shared Future and Great Harmony in the 21st Century”. Prof. Liu believed that the old dilemmas and new opportunities in the above three are calling for the new thinking of a global community of shared future, and the latter precisely reflects China’s vision of “a world in great harmony” in the 21st century at the academic level. Prof. Jing Xuemin, Director of the Institute of Political Communication at CUC, discussed how to break through the last barriers to the integration of human civilizations through political communication. Dr. Shuyang Liu, a Boya postdoc fellow at Peking University, spoke on the topic of “Analysis of the Internal Mechanism of the Strategic Conception of a Global Community of Shared Future”, trying to explore the extended connotation of a global community of shared future from the mechanism level. Prof. Qiu Huafei, Director of the Academic Committee of SPSIR, focused on the “Contemporary China-US Strategic Relations in the Eyes of American Scholars”. At the end of this section, Prof. Dai Changzheng, Dean of the School of International Relations at UIBE, made a summary of the speeches and commented on the key points.

At the closing ceremony, moderated by Prof. Men Honghua, CSSN Deputy Editor-in-Chief Li Fang made a summary & evaluation of the insights and discussions by the scholars. He said that this forum is held against the background of “the profound changes unseen in a century”, which not only represents the social and historical changes in China in the past century, but also relates to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. In this sense, the theme “Mutual Learning among Civilizations towards a Community of Shared Future” undoubtedly has a profound connection to the Chinese history. At this forum, the participants discussed a variety of topics and disciplines of strategic significance, providing new dimensions and perspectives of academic and intellectual support for advancing the academic research on building a global community of shared future.

Researcher Sun Hui, designer of the theme of this forum, co-founder of the Forum on China & World Studies, and former CSSN Deputy Editor-in-Chief, spoke highly of this forum. He pointed out that there are different forms of civilization, and each has its own advantages and limitations. In the process of mankind moving towards world history, and under the new pattern of universal exchanges in the world, the exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and cultures has become increasingly important. In such a new process and new era of world history, China should avoid the old law of the jungle in international relations and act as an inclusive major country by pursuing a global community of shared future. It is safe to say that the discussions at this forum are helpful to both the current political concerns and the deepening of basic academic research. Only by shaping today’s academic discourse system from an interdisciplinary perspective can Chinese scholars respond more effectively to the historical questions raised by the times.

 Before the curtain fell, on behalf of Tongji University, Dean Men expressed his gratitude to SSCP, and also thanked all the participants for their wisdom and insights, and all the staff for their hard work. As indicated by the Dean, it is the honor of Tongji University to host such a heavyweight forum for years, and SPSIR can be on the fast track of development thanks to the support from all sides. Besides, the success of this forum has also brightened up the 10th anniversary of SPSIR. Looking forward, SPSIR will continue to forge forward gently and unswervingly.