The opening ceremony was moderated by Prof. Huang Dahui, director of Center of East Asia Studies of RUC.
In his remarks in the opening ceremony, Prof. Chen Yue, dean of School of International Studies extended welcome and gratitude to the experts and scholars at the meeting, on behalf of all the staff and students of the School. He said, the reason why we decided on the theme is increasing inequality of cooperation among East Asian countries and complexity in perception and judgment of East Asia regional cooperation by East Asian countries and major neighboring countries. He believed, through this forum, scholars from different countries can contribute their wisdom to the development of regional cooperation in East Asia.
In his keynote speech entitled “Reconsideration of East Asia Cooperation”, Prof. Zhang Yunling, academician from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of Chinese Association of Asia-Pacific Studies, gave an in-depth analysis on the history, approach and orientation of East Asia cooperation. Firstly, he reviewed the history of East Asia regional cooperation, and pointed out that the regional concept of East Asia had not emerged and regional cooperation mechanism had not taken shape until 1977. Before 1977, the use of the word “East Asia” was limited to market network. He then illustrated the driving factors such as ideas, strategies and power for East Asia cooperation and analyzed the development of the cooperation mechanism. In particular, he set store by the meaning of the key organization ASEAN. Finally, when looking into the future of East Asia cooperation, he indicated that East Asia, without being affected by European-style cooperation, must create a cooperation mechanism which can deal with complicated regional issues in its own way. China, under the strategy formulated in the 3rd plenum of 18th CPC central committee, will further promote regional cooperation and strengthen diplomatic ties with surrounding countries.
