On the evening of September 21st, the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University held its 2023-2024 work summary and 2024-2025 leadership election meeting. The 4th Secretary-General of CISS Youth, Huang Ying, hosted the meeting, with CISS Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Researcher Wang Congyue participating online.
First, Huang Ying reviewed the work done during the 2023-2024 academic year. Over the past year, thanks to the guidance and support of the CISS expert team, the current Secretariat has adhered to the principles of “pre-career,” “professional,” and “high-level,” meticulously planning and organizing a series of 30 events, including “CISS Youth Talk,” “CISS Youth Book Club,” “Face-to-Face with Experts” lectures, current affairs seminars, and “CISS Youth Observing the World.” These events attracted more than 400 participants, and the public account articles received a total of over 20,000 views. Additionally, the “American Observations” youth column, launched at the end of 2021, has successfully published over 110 in-depth articles, and its professionalism and influence have gradually expanded among the youth community.
In line with the core values of “expanding vision, enhancing quality, and deepening content,” several new projects were launched, such as “CISS Youth Footprints,” “Cross-School Collaborative Seminars,” and “Strategic Youth Leadership Workshops,” which further expanded the international influence of Strategic Youth.
The 4th Deputy Secretary-General of CISS Youth, Tan Yannan, reviewed her experience in coordinating online and offline activities over the past year. She participated in and organized dozens of events. She summarized the year’s achievements with the phrase “Watching the world, far-reaching thoughts,” and pointed out the significant progress CISS Youth made in terms of activity topics, participant breadth, and depth. The events involved a wide range of cultural exchanges and international issues, with participants from across the country and abroad. The events were of high quality and sustainable. Tan Yannan also detailed the planning process and shared her experience in precisely executing activities, hoping to leave a template and experience for future teams.
The 4th Director of the Planning Department, Guan Shiqian, summarized last year’s work, which covered two main areas: further developing existing activities and actively integrating resources to promote cross-school and cross-institutional cooperation. Last year, three sessions of the “CISS Youth Looks at the World” series were held, receiving a positive response and recognition from both faculty and students. In November, they cooperated with CITIC Press to invite the author of “Chinese-style Modernization” for a sharing session, in January they co-hosted an online seminar on China-U.S. science and technology security with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and in June, they invited UN officials to share experiences on new energy and aid to Africa. Additionally, the Planning Department conducted alumni surveys to strengthen members’ sense of identity and belonging, laying a foundation for integrating more resources into future events.
The 4th Director of the Academic Department, Zhao Shuyun, summarized her work, including collecting and editing bilingual introductions, launching the “Footprints” column to record the growth of young members, and participating in the 2023 “American Observations” column, encouraging more young scholars to contribute. The Academic Department also tracked hot topics in US domestic politics and national security for 2024. Zhao Shuyun emphasized the importance of being diligent, rigorous, open-minded, and communicative in her work, hoping to help everyone continue learning and maintain humility through the Secretariat and multi-platform activities.
Next, CISS Director Da Wei provided a video summary of the work done by CISS Youth during this academic year and expressed recognition and expectations. Director Da thanked the Secretariat and all CISS Youth members for their contributions and pointed out areas for improvement. With the leadership transition approaching, he expressed high hopes for the new Secretariat, emphasizing the need to maintain the “pre-career” orientation of CISS Youth, rely on the center, fully leverage initiative and youth consciousness, and face the new academic year with enthusiasm to further improve CISS Youth.
Professor Xiao Qian also expressed her expectations for CISS Youth in writing, looking forward to fresh blood to help the organization grow better.
The meeting then entered the leadership election phase, with candidates making campaign speeches and answering questions from attendees. Candidates Huang Chenxuan, Wang Yinuo, Ye Zichen, Zhai Lin, and Zhang Yuanshi discussed their past student work experience, participation in CISS Youth activities, understanding of CISS Youth, and future work plans.
Finally, CISS Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Researcher Wang Congyue summarized the 2023-2024 work and 2024-2025 leadership election meeting, thanked the previous Secretariat for their contributions, and expressed expectations for the future development of CISS Youth, striving to promote its growth in a more professional, high-end, and international direction.