A global perspective of the Middle East governance was the primary topic of the fifth international forum on Asia and the Middle East held September 24-25 at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU).

The forum, hosted by SISU’s Middle East Studies Institute, included one main forum and six divisions. SISU’s Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation was responsible for the forum’s interpretation and translation work, with volunteers selected from SISU students. 

Attending scholars from different regions and countries analyzed the topic from various angles, including politics, security, military, economy, society and culture.

SISU President Cao Deming’s opening remarks pointed out that different background cannot stop the attendees enhancing mutual understanding and collaboration on the peaceful development of the Middle East.

Ahmed Haggag, the secretary-general of the Egyptian Institute of African Studies, explained to other participants that the change in any part of the Middle East would inevitably influence other places outside the region, emphasizing that scholars working on Middle East studies have started widening their research scope to the whole world.  

“The Middle East can be treated as a training center for global leading powers to practice their capacity of handling global hot issues and managing their own country,” Li Chengwen, Ambassador to Sino-Arab States Cooperation Forum, former Ambassador to the PRC in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, said, “China, one permanent member of the United Nations, has been actively and consistently getting involved in promoting the peace, stability and development of the Middle East, which is the core of Chinese regional policy.”

SISU’s Middle East Studies Institute, founded in 1980, was awarded the “Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences” by Chinese Ministry of Education in 2000. It established “Sino-Arab Cooperative Forum Centre” in 2010, which was s by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has had an excellent reputation for area studies, since it became a member of the earliest group awarding Shanghai’s think tanks.

SISU University Council Chair Jiang Feng said during the closing ceremony that SISU was striving to be a world-class university by building new think tanks featuring area studies and cultivating “multilingual+” talents who will help China with international affairs and national interests. He added that the Forum on Asia and the Middle East has become one of the most celebrated international forums on Middle East studies in China and it has benefited SISU’s internationalization.

SISU will host the sixth international forum on Asia and the Middle East in September 2018.

This year’s forum was covered by many media outlets such as People’s Daily, The Paper, Eastday, Xinmin Evening News, Shanghai Guancha Syndicate. It also attracted some academic publications including Chinese Social Science.