In the last few days, a delegation from Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University(CISS) visited several institutions engaged in China relations in the UK for in-depth exchanges on hot button issues, China-UK relations, and think tank cooperation. The delegation, led by Senior Colonel (Ret.) Zhou Bo, senior fellow at CISS and China Forum expert, featured Han Hua, executive committee member of China Forum, and Shi Yan, fellow at CISS. This is the first CISS overseas mission since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On November 23, local time, Merethe Borge MacLeod and Cyril Poulopoulos, executive director and deputy director of the Great Britain-China Centre respectively, received the CISS delegation. The two sides compared notes on hot button issues regarding China-UK relations.

On November 24, King’s College London (KCL) held a lecture and seminar on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which featured Zhou Bo as a keynote speaker. The event was also attended by British military historian Professor Andrew Lambert, senior British diplomat and Visiting Professor at KCL Tim Willasey-Wilsey, China Forum executive committee member Han Hua, and CISS Fellow Shi Yan. Huw Dylan, associate professor at the Department of War Studies at KCL, served as the moderator.

The seminar explored issues such as the factors driving the onset and end of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the security, cultural, economic and regime dimensions of the conflict, the impact of digital and intelligence service on where the war is headed, the future security dilemma in Europe, and China’s position and views on the conflict.

Zhou Bo explained China’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict – including its opposition to the use of nuclear weapons – and shared his analysis on where the war is headed and its implications. The world order has always been forged out of different cultures, both before and after this conflict, and cannot be simply reduced to Western liberalism, he stressed.

The panelists also held a Q&A session with more than 80 students and faculty members in the audience.

On November 25, the UK National Committee on China (UKNCC) hosted the CISS delegation at the Royal Air Force Club. Participants on the UKNCC side included Chair Frank Slevin, Chief Executive Ollie Shiell, Director Andrew Cainey, and Associate Director Charlie Du Cane. The two sides had a thorough exchange of views on the cooperation between the two countries as well as between the two institutions.