The Russian-Chinese section of the International Valdai Discussion Club, entitled “Regional stability through harmonious development: Russia and China in the new world architecture,” was held on November 25-26, 2010, in Shanghai.
The agenda of the two-day meeting in Shanghai focused on formulating joint responses to global and regional challenges, consolidating the efforts of other international players, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and taking bilateral cooperation to a new level.
The discussion brought together over 40 experts on the economy, politics and international relations from the leading research centers, universities and government institutions of Russia and China.
Among the experts, participated in the conference, were former Chinese Ambassador to Russia, Member of Foreign Policy Advisory Council Li Fenglin, Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Chairman of the Chinese Society for Russian, Central Asian and East European Studies; Chairman of the Chinese Society for History of Chinese-Russian Relations Li Jingjie, Professor and Dean of the School of Advanced International and Area Studies, Director of the Center for Russian Studies at East China Normal University Feng Shaolei, Dean of the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), Chairman of the Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, Sergei Karaganov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Andrey Ostrovskiy, Director of the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies Vladislav Inozemtsev and other distinguished scholars and practitioners.
Taking off at evaluating the current climate between the nations and the wider world, the experts agreed that the Russia – China strategic partnership has a solid foundation, featuring extensive influence and huge potential.
However, the changing nature of the international relations and new challenges have their implications on the situation Russia and China find themselves in, as well as on their bilateral ties.
However enduring the strategic partnership is, there is a growing need to develop a confidence-building regime in the region to serve the purpose of countering the increasing chaotization of the world politics and the nascent security vacuum in the Asian-Pacific. This regime, though, should not be aimed against any country and should furthermore include as many, first and foremost, the USA. The triangle of Russian, Chinese and American cooperation appears to be indispensable in dealing with a variety of challenges at the moment ranging from North Korea nuclear program to countering drug-trafficking from Afghanistan and spreading into the Larger Middle East in the long-term.
Moreover, the looming problem of Afghanistan’s destabilizing spill into the Central Asia - should the US and NATO withdraw – is also to become an area of intense cooperation between Russia and China with the USA. This cooperation should be established not only on the country-to-country basis, but also include the potential of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which will see its huge test in the area in the years to come.
With the future of the SCO in the spotlight of the discussion, the participants agreed that the processes within the framework should be boosted. More emphasis should also be applied to the economic cooperation between the member states. The Chinese speakers bitterly noted the unclear Russian stance on the prioritization between the SCO, on one hand, and the Eurasian Economic Cooperation and Collective Security Treaty Organization, on the other.
With the economics lying in the centerpiece of the argumentation of the Chinese participants there were also clear lessons for Russia to learn. In the decades to come the role of economic cooperation between Russia and China will become a litmus test for the strategic partnership. The current imbalances which appear on the trade balance spreadsheet need to be addressed. Good will on both sides, however, provides for the time being that there are ways and means to do it, first and foremost through developing Siberia and the Far East. It is important not too waste it.
Hosted by the East China Normal University the conference was jointly organized by the ECNU Center for Russian Studies and the Russian News and Information Agency “RIA Novosti” together with the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and the Institute of Far Eastern Studies RAS.
Program
Wednesday, November 24
Russian participants arrive in Shanghai (China)
04:00 pm
A walk through the park of the government residence Xijiao. A visit to the Yixing pavilion where the founding of the SCO was commemorated
Thursday, November 25
9.00 am – 12.30 pm
Opening the conference
Moderator: Feng Shaolei
Welcoming addresses: Li Feng Lin, Sergei Karaganov and Yu Lizhong
Session I: Russia and China in the system of international relations
Moderators: Timofei Bordachev and Li Jingjie
General debate
- The weakening of the West and international stability: What can China and Russia do?
- Russia and China as key players at the global and regional (Asia-Pacific) levels: What kind of policy coordination is required?
- Russian-Chinese-American dialogue on issues of regional peace and stability.
- Russia and China as key players in Eurasia. The role and place of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Extending cooperation areas.
- Involvement of other major regional powers and opportunities for dialogue between Russia, China and India.
02.00 – 06.00 pm
Session II: Modernization and harmonious joint development through partnership
Moderators: Sergei Luzyanin and Wu Enyuan
General debate
- Russia and China as economic partners: How can discrepancies be eliminated?
- Opportunities for diversifying trade and investment: What goods do Russia and China need for their development?
- How development in Siberia and the Far East can foster stable development throughout the region and consolidate international stability.
- The current and future programs of cooperation between Russia and China and their respective regions.
- The prospects of a Russian-Chinese modernization alliance and what should be done to establish it.
Friday, November 26
9.00 am – 12.30 pm
Session III: From existing dialogues to new formats
Moderators: Sergei Karaganov and Wan Haiyun
General debate
- Opportunities for combining regional economic integration with the creation of a collective security system.
- Russian-Chinese cooperation in resolving the Korean issue.
- Elaborating a common vision for the development and potential of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) (2012 summit).
- Cooperation between Russia, China and other major regional powers as a means of ensuring security and building trust in East and South-East Asia.
- The Pacific Security and Development Pact as a universal format for international cooperation in the Asia – Pacific region, based on a compromise between China and the United States.
Closing the conference
Moderator: Li Feng Lin
Closing remarks: Sergei Karaganov and Feng Shaolei
14.00 – 16.00 pm
Meeting with Col.-Gen. Xiong Guankai, professor, former deputy chief of the General Staff the People’s Liberation Army of China, former chairman of the Chinese Society of International Strategic Studies and honorary chairman of the Chinese Fund on International Strategic Studies
Visiting the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University and meeting with the center’s employees
Saturday, November 27
A tour of Shanghai and its suburbs.
Sunday, November 28
Departure of Russian participants
List of Participants of the Russian-Chinese section of the Valdai International Discussion Club
Russia
Pavel Andreev
Head of International Projects, RIA Novosti
Oleg Barabanov
Professor of Department of World Politics at the Faculty of World Economics and Global Politics, State University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Head of Department of EU Politics and Policies; European Studies Institute at Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO University).
Timofey Bordachev
Deputy-dean, School of International Affairs and World Economy; Director of Studies, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (SVOP); Director, Center for International Studies, Faculty of International Economics and Politics, State University – Higher School of Economics, PhD (Politics)
Andrey Dikarev
Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Oriental Studies, China Department, Senior researcher
Vladislav Inozemtsev
Professor of Economics, Director, Centre for Post-Industrial Studies, Editor-in-Chief, Svobodnaya Mysl’ monthly
Sergey Karaganov
Chairman of the Presidium, Council on Foreign and Defense Policy
Andrey Karneev
Vice Director, Institute of Asian and African Studies, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State;
Alexander Lukin
Director, Center for East Asian and SCO Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Sergey Louzianin
First Deputy Director, Institute of Far Eastern Studies (IFES) of RAS, Head of the North-East Asia Strategic Issues and SCO Center of IFES RAS, professor MGIMO – University, President of the Oriental Studies Support Foundation (OSSF)
Andrey Ostrovsky
Dr.of Sc.(Economics) since 1991, Deputy Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences since 2003, Chief of the Center for Social and Economic Development of China and East Asia, IFES RAS since 2005
Vladimir Petrovsky
Academic Secretary for Public and Media Relations, IFES, RAS
China
Li Xin
D.Sc. in Economics; Institute for Economic Comparative Studies, and head of the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies under the government of Shanghai. Part-time professor and research advisor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Zhu Xianping
Director, Institute of Northeast Asian Studies, Jilin University; professor
Xing Guangcheng
Party Committee Secretary, Research Center for Chinese Borderland History and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; chief researcher
Chen Yurong
Director of the Department of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, China Institute of International Studies, Secretary General of China Center for Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies; chief researcher
Zhao Huasheng
Director, Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies; director, Center for Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies at the Fudan University; deputy chairman, Chinese Society for History of Chinese-Russian Relations; chief researcher
Pan Dawei
D.Sc. in Sociology; director, Center for Russian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; Honorary Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Sociology; professor
Qu Wenyi
Professor, College of International Relations of the Liaoning University
Wang Haiyun
Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Society for History of Chinese-Russian Relations
Feng Shaolei
Dean, School of Advanced International and Area Studies, East China Normal University; director, Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University; editor-in-chief, journal Russian Studies; professor
Yang Cheng
D.Sc. in History; deputy director, School of Advanced International and Area Studies; deputy director, Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University; deputy editor-in-chief, journal Russian Studies; associate professor
Bei Wenli
Deputy director, School of Advanced International and Area Studies; deputy director, Center for Russian Studies at the East China Normal University; professor
Li Feng Lin
Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Russian Federation; member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Committee at the Chinese Foreign Ministry
Sheng Shiliang
Chief researcher, Center for Global Challenges Studies, the Xinhua News Agency; Chief researcher, Institute for Social Development of Eurasia, Center for Development Research under the State Council of the People’s Republic of China
Huang Renwei
Vice-President, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences; professor
Qian Naicheng D.Sc. in History; deputy head, European and Central Asian Affairs Bureau, International Department, CPC Central Committee
Li Jingjie
Member, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; chairman, Chinese Society for Russian, Central Asian and East European Studies; chairman, Chinese Society for History of Chinese-Russian Relations
Sun Zhuangzhi
Secretary General, Center for Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; professor
Wu Enyuan
Director, Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; chief researcher
Cui Qiming
Ph.D. in Law; director, Integrated Research Department, Office of the Foreign Affairs Leading Group, CPC Central Committee; professor
Wu Dahui
Head, Strategic Research Department, Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; chief researcher
Ye Hailin
Deputy director, Politics Department, Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; academic secretary, Center for South Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; chief researcher
Shi Zhan
Researcher, China Foreign Affairs Academy
Guo Dawang
Ph.D. in Philology; top category translator, Foreign Language Publishing House
Liu Znumei
Deputy director, Center for Emerging Market Economies, Fudan University; associate professor
Yu Nanping
D.Sc. in Law; associate professor at School of Advanced International and Area Studies, East China Normal University
Wang Haiyan
Associate professor, Center for Russian Studies, East China Normal University
Li Yingnan
Professor, School of Russian Language, Beijing Foreign Studies University
