On Thursday 14 July the AIIA hosted an intimate dialogue on South China Sea issues between a visiting delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Australian academics.

The delegation included:

• Ambassador Chen Shiqiu, former Permanent Representative and Ambassador of China to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna and former Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia.
• Dr Ruan Zongze, Executive Vice President and senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

With South China Sea issues very much in debate – and with a decision from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Republic of Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China reached just two days prior to the visit – there was benefit in frank discussion and sharing of Australian and Chinese perspectives on these issues.

Ambassador Chen Shiqiu

Born in 1938. Expert of UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Vice-president of China Society for Human Rights Studies, Vice-president of United Nations Association of China, Professor of China Foreign Affairs University and Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Prof. Chen was Permanent Representative and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna, Permanent Representative and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the UN Industrial Development Organization, Permanent Representative and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to International Atomic Energy Agency, Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Indonesia.

Dr Ruan Zongze

Executive Vice President and senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, Editor-in-Chief of the CIIS journal China International Studies, member of UNDP Human Development Report Advisory Panel and member of ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Experts & Eminent Persons. Minister Counselor at the Embassy of the PRC in the United States (2007-2011) and diplomat at the PRC Embassy in the UK (1996-2000). Ph.D. at China Foreign Affairs University. Research areas include U.S. foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, international security and development. Author of A Diplomat’s Inside Story of America (Jiang Su People’s Publishing LTD, Nanjing, 2012) and The Rise of China and the Transition of East Asia Order: Shaping and Expanding the Shared Interests (Peking University Press, Beijing, 2007). Appearing frequently on China Central Television and other major media.