Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon!

On such a solemn occasion today, the Institute for China & World Studies of Tongji University is officially established. On behalf of my colleagues at the Institute, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the leaders and teachers for your guidance, assistance and presence!

Strategy is a summary of the history, an understanding of the present, and a choice for the future. Strategic studies are inclusive and diverse, as they not only reflect long-term thinking and philosophical understanding of human development, but also contain specific roadmap design.

We are ushering in a golden age for strategic studies. In retrospect, mankind has gone through hardships and setbacks; and strategic studies have emerged, started and developed in the complex reality. Looking into the future, with huge uncertainties on human progress and a big picture full of imagination and possibility - a result of the interaction of ideals and reality, top-level design is related to the future of all countries. As an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research highland, strategic studies are both a major focus of decision-makers and a heated topic of the ordinary people. The importance of China’s strategic studies has become increasingly prominent.

China is now under the spotlight at the world stage, making China strategy a core research issue for other countries. Yet such a situation has caught the world unprepared, and our strategic reserves are also obviously insufficient, which highlights the importance of doing strategic studies by China. With an increase in national strength and international influence, the development of social sciences in China presents three important features as follows: First, the China studies have been drawing attention from various fields; Second, as China creatively integrates into the international society, China-world interaction has gradually become the focus of academic research, with efforts in breaking the mono-disciplinary limitation to conduct interdisciplinary studies in full swing; Third, the Chinese tradition has been widely studied and explored at home and abroad. These three converging trends are providing China’s social sciences with a broader space for imagination and operation. As a focal area closely followingthe three trends, China’s strategic studies are embracing a golden period of development.

DU Fu once said, 'good rain knows its time right; it will fall when comes spring.' At present, China’s strategic studies have become the center of attention of policy-makers, scholars and even the general public. In face of the unstoppable trend of the world, those who follow it will prosper. We at the Institute for China & World Studies are committed to following the world trend and pursuing the ideal of national rejuvenation to create a brand-new platform for strategic studies. We aspire to build a new three-in-one think-tank model that integrates scientific research, teaching and consultation.

We are an open research institution. Based on the two overall situations, we study major strategic issues related to China’s peaceful development, with a particular focus on such topics as the design of China’s overall strategic framework, the insights into world trends, the adaptive strategic adjustments of other major countries, and China-world relations. We conduct innovative researches, carry out cooperation in monographic studies, organize and participate in academic conferences, and produce and publish scientific research results, in an effort to build an important base for China’s strategic studies.

We are a discipline development base. We have organized the compilation of numerous strategy textbooks, including China’s International Strategy, The Study of International Strategy, The Tradition of China Strategy, and A Comparative Study of Major Power Strategy, and brought scientific achievements into the classroom, striving to open up a new interdisciplinary field.

We are an advisory body for decision making. We submit research reports to offer advice for the National Security Commission of the CPC Central Committee, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, as part of our contributions to the national development.

Based on political theories, with the support of national and international studies, and leveraging the strong background of Tongji University in science and engineering, we are committed to the complementarity of liberal arts, science and engineering. By organizing the Forum on China & World Studies co-founded by Social Science in China Press (SSCP) and Tongji University, editing and publishing Chinese Journal of Strategic Studies, and setting up the Fund for China & World Studies, we plan to create an important platform for China’s strategic studies and build us into a well-known research institution in around five years.

Such a goal is quite ambitious for an organization in its infancy. What we can do is working harder and harder. Now, we have already laid a relatively solid research foundation. To be specific, the Chinese Journal of Strategic Studies has been officially published in both Chinese and Korean languages; our first batch of “The Tradition of China Strategy” series have just been published by the People’s Publishing House; the “Studies in Grand Strategy” series by Peking University Press has become an important academic brand; and the “Major Power Strategy”, “China’s National Strategy” and other series are well on the track. We have published a number of academic papers in many influential periodicals; we have undertaken important projects supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NDRC, etc.; our consulting report has received affirmative comments from the Party and state leaders including the general secretary; we have been invited to join the decision-making consultations organized by the National Security Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc., showing our preliminary academic influence. More importantly, we are fortunate enough to have the guidance and help of our academic colleagues, especially the teachers here; we have the Forum on China & World Studies as an important platform to rely on; and we have the full support of our university leaders. With all these, we are confident in achieving the above goals as scheduled.

The first Forum on China & World Studies & Seminar on “Academic Expression of the Chinese Road” to be held tomorrow will be the first important academic event organized by the Institute. We are grateful for the support of all leaders and teachers.

Thank you again for your presence. I sincerely appreciate your further guidance and help!

Thank you!