Photo: Ambassador Ma Zhengang, president of CIIS, welcomes the participants.
The very first China-Nordic Peace Research Conference was held in Beijing on 7-8 April 2008. More than 30 eminent peace researchers from China and the five Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland) discussed topical issues of common interest. Hosted by the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the conference focused on three themes: The UN, peace-building, peace-keeping and interventions; World Order after the Cold War; and Energy Security.
In the discussions on the UN the focus was on the changing nature of UN peace operations to include activities aimed at building a peaceful society, and on the expanded role of the UN Security Council after the end of the Cold War.
Under the topic of World Order after the Cold War, Ole Wæver presented his and Barry Buzan’s theory of regional security complexes. Professor Shi Yinhong from the Department of International Relations at Renmin University spoke on the increased significance of so-called “soft power” and how China’s rise relies on economic, diplomatic and cultural power rather than military means.
In the session on Energy Security, Ding Yifan of the Development Research Center of China’s State Council explained that China is increasingly concerned with energy security as it is becoming more dependend on oil imports. He pointed out that potential deployment of military forces to protect oil supply lines could in the future cause conflicts between China and the U.S. Mr. Tønnesson presented a paper on the connection between climate change, energy security and peace and stability in the Middle East.
The conference programme and agenda is available on PRIO’s home pages:
http://www.prio.no/files/file51130_china-nordic_peace_research_conference.pdf
http://www.prio.no/files/file51130_agenda_china-nordic_conference.pdf