lecture tours       Ruan Zongze
finland I denmark I sweden I the netherlands

Asia & Europe: Joining Forces for Multilateralism

In recent years the debate on multilateralism and unilateralism has intensified and has drawn considerable attention in international politics - the Iraq war in particular has provoked this debate and unilateralism has now especially become a big concern in some spheres.

In light of globalisation, both Asia and Europe face common challenges that require cooperation and multilateral action - such as that of dealing with non-traditional threats like international terrorism, religious extremism, separatism, organized crime, environment degradation, drug trafficking etc. Both Asia and the EU are major players on the world arena and such a prospect puts considerable responsibility on the two regions. Furthermore, it is also important for Asia and Europe to play a part in strengthening multilateral institutions such as the United Nations.

This lecture will address several key issues in this debate including the relevance and importance of multilateralism. What can Asia and Europe do to jointly to pursue multilaterism? By studying some cases of multilateral cooperation in regional affairs, this lecture aims to demonstrate how multilateralism works in Asia. It will also identify the challenges and difficulties in promoting multilaterism.

profile of the speaker:

Ruan Zongze is the Vice President and Senior Research Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). After receiving a B. A. in English Literature at the Sichuan Institute of Foreign Languages in 1986 and a second B.A. in International Politics at Renmin University of China in 1988, he joined the American Studies Division at CIIS and later became the Deputy Director of Division for World politics at CIIS. In 1992 he was a visiting research fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. In 1996, he was assigned to the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, London. He returned to CIIS as Director of Division for World Politics in 2001 before obtaining his current position.

His areas of research include American foreign policy, great power relations, and international security issues. Author of three books, the latest entitled The Third Way and New Britain was published in November 2001 in Beijing. He has written widely on international politics and security issues for magazines and newspapers. He is also a regular commentator on China Central Television on international affairs.

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