The 30th Annual Meeting and International Symposium Report

The conference was attended by 79 participants from many different institutions across 12 countries and regions, including the U.S., China, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Germany, Singapore, Scotland, South Korea, and United Arab Emirates. Presentations were given by academics, doctoral candidates, and researchers associated with international organizations, research centers, and universities. The 15 event panels covered a vast array of issues related to Chinese political studies. International relations-focused papers comprised of such topics as Chinese Economic Diplomacy and International Aid; Regional Security; South China Sea Disputes; Deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense System (THAAD) in South Korea; The One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR); The Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB); and China-Europe relations.  Domestic politics-oriented presentations included Internet, Media, and Civil Society; National and Local Governance Challenges; Environmental Governance; Political Culture; Values, Norms, and Political Trust; and Policy Innovation and Implementation.   

The June 10 opening ceremony was facilitated by Nankai University Zhou Enlai School of Government’s Dean Zhicheng Wu. Opening remarks for the conference were given by Nankai president Ke Gong, ACPS president Yi Edward Yang, and Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations executive director Jean-Marc Blanchard. Keynote speeches were delivered by Pierre Landry of NYU Shanghai, who went into some detail the roots of American scholarship in Chinese politics, Amitav Acharya of American University and former president of the International Studies Association (ISA), who addressed the imminent reality of a rising China, and Nankai vice president Guanglei Zhu, who reviewed recent reforms in central-local policymaking in China.  The range of conversational focus and backgrounds between the speakers set the tone for what would transpire as an illuminating, collaborative, and multifaceted event.  At the ACPS annual meeting business meeting, attending board members (Yi Edward Yang, Jin Zeng, Shanruo Ning Zhang, and Xiaojun Li) discussed ideas for the 2018 annual conference and decided to look into the procedure and requirements for making ACPS an organizational affiliate of the Association of Asian Studies (AAS). 

The closing event on Sunday, June 11 was facilitated by conference co-chair, Professor Zhaoying Han of Nankai University.  During the event, ACPS president Yi Edward Yang expressed his appreciation to the faculty, staff and student volunteers of the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University for hosting a successful and memorable conference and thanked all conference participants for their support of ACPS.

 

Respectfully yours,

Yi Edward Yang, Ph.D.