Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Bai Bo
The 10th World Peace Forum will hold an opening ceremony on the morning of July 3. During the three-day forum, many former foreign dignitaries will attend the forum online, and more than 300 diplomatic envoys and think tank scholars in China will participate in discussions through a combination of online and offline methods. It is worth noting that Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to China, who arrived in China to take up his new post in March this year, will participate in the discussion session of the forum. This will be Burns’ first appearance at a forum organized by China after taking office.
On June 29, the 10th World Peace Forum held a media briefing
Secretary-General of the World Peace Forum and Dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua UniversityYan Xuetong introduced at the previous forum briefing that this forum will be based on " With the theme of "Maintaining International Strategic Stability: Commonness, Comprehensiveness, and Cooperation", guests will focus on discussing what actions the government should take and what policies it should formulate, so as to promote the current interrupted globalization to continue to move forward. The forum will brainstorm, discuss, analyze and make relevant suggestions on the international situation.
On the evening of July 2, the forum held its first discussion, "Afghanistan Humanitarian Challenges and International Collaborative Response Cooperation Group", focusing on Afghanistan 's response to the current humanitarian crisis. From July 3rd to 4th, the forum will hold 4 conference discussions and 15 group discussions. Topics discussed at the conference include reshaping world peace, European security order, the United Nations and international order, regional organizations and regional order. The topics discussed in the fusion group include the Ukraine crisis and European security, stabilizing Sino-US relations in a turbulent world, the US "Indo-Pacific" strategy and regional security, etc. Other panel discussion topics include BRICS cooperation: opportunities and challenges, the trend of "anti-globalization" and its impact on international politics, United Nations multilateralism and international order, etc.
U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns
In addition to familiar faces such as former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd , there are also many topical guests about to appear at this forum, the most interesting ones. What attracts the most attention is Burns, the new U.S. Ambassador to China. Since the U.S. Embassy in China announced Burns' arrival in China on March 5 this year, the 10th World Peace Forum will be the first time that the new U.S. Ambassador to China will participate in a forum organized by China. Burns will be a guest speaker at the "United Nations and International Order" conference discussion on the morning of July 4. He will be joined on the stage by the British Ambassador to China Ruolan Ng, the French Ambassador to China Luo Liang, and the Russian Ambassador to China Denisov and Jia Qingguo, member of the Standing Committee of the 13th CPPCC National Committee and professor at Peking University, jointly represented the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to participate in the discussion.
Burns served as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the U.S. State Department from 2005 to 2008. He was the third most senior figure in the U.S. State Department. From the time when Branstad, the previous ambassador to China, left China in October 2020 to when Burns took office in March 2022, the position of U.S. Ambassador to China had the longest "empty period" of 17 months. Burns is also the first U.S. ambassador to China to be a career diplomat in many years. Chinese scholars once told a reporter from the Beijing Daily client that compared to the previous situations where governors and senators served as U.S. ambassadors to China, Burns, as a career diplomat, will place more emphasis on fulfilling Washington’s will when dealing with issues. Sino-US relations will also become more professional and stable.
How Burns, who made his first appearance at the Chinese Forum event four months after taking office, will explain his views on the current Sino-US relations will undoubtedly become one of the most eye-catching highlights of this World Peace Forum. At the 9th World Peace Forum in 2021, in order to defend the positions of Russia and China, Russian Ambassador to China Denisov had a discussion with the British Ambassador to China Wu Ruolin and the French Ambassador to China in the same "Five Permanent Ambassadors" discussion Luo Liang had a fierce confrontation. This year, with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine bringing relations between Russia and the West to a freezing point, how Denisov will share the stage with Wu Ruolan, Luo Liang and Burns is also worthy of attention.
In addition, the new Indian Ambassador to China Luo Guodong will appear in the " BRIC Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges" panel discussion, and the Charge d'Affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in China Zhangna Liezinska and the Australian Ambassador to China Fu Guanhan will also participate Related group discussions.
World Peace Forum was founded in 2012. It is an unofficial annual international security forum hosted by Tsinghua University and co-organized by Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. The World Peace Forum adheres to the principles of openness, inclusiveness, freedom and equality and provides a platform for guests from various countries to express their views, thoughts and plans. It has held 9 offline meetings so far, and a special video meeting was held in 2020 due to the new crown epidemic.
