On the morning of March 11, 2024, the Review Meeting of Scientific Research Projects on Marine Development Studies of China Oceanic Development Foundation and Academy of Ocean of China was successfully held at the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies, Gulou Campus, Nanjing University. Members of the review team, the Foundation and the Center were present at the meeting.
The review meeting first assessed the project “Research on China-US Maritime Security and Cooperation”, which is in charge of Professor Zhu Feng, the Executive Director of the Center. Cheng Hanping, Senior Researcher of the Center, reported to the review team on behalf of Professor Zhu that the project clarified the historical connection of the great powers’ competition for maritime power, explored the theory and practice of the rise of the United States at sea, and further explored the management of the China-U.S. maritime security competition on the basis of grasping the agenda of China-U.S. maritime cooperation and the resistance in the 21st century. The experts of the review team highly evaluated the achievements of the project, and considered that the project has promoted multidisciplinary cross-fertilization and development, provided countermeasures and suggestions for the future China-US competition in the field of ocean affairs, possessing great academic value, application value and social benefits. The experts unanimously agreed the project acceptance, and hoped that the research team would pay more attention to the feasibility and methods of China-US cooperation in the future, so as to better serve the national development strategy.
After that, Professor Hu Lingyuan, Director of the Center for Japanese Studies, Fudan University, who in charge of “ Research on China-Japanese Maritime Security and Cooperation”, reported the results of the project to the review team. Professor Hu focused on the main conclusions, suggesting that Japan is good at localizing its strategy through the process of conceptualization and issue setting. As a result, China should pay close attention to and prevent Japan’s strategic localization process in the Taiwan Strait and the South Pacific. Moreover, China should improve its ability in sea-related issue setting and institutionalization to truly construct the “Maritime Security Community”. The review team experts believed that the project is closely related to the theme, and has achieved fruitful results including both strategic research and suggestions, with great academic value and application value. They unanimously agreed to accept the project, considering that expanded research on strengthening China-Japanese maritime cooperation should be continued.
Researcher Yang Jian, Vice President of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, made a final report on the project of “Research on Blue Partnership Construction”. Researcher Yang reported the main research content by analyzing the interference of the US Indo-Pacific strategy on China’s blue partnership construction and predicting the possible future trend of “NATO’s Asia-Pacificization”. Besides, he put forward the concept of deepening “Blue Partnership”, considering that synergies between the “Blue Partnership” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” should be promoted.. He also put forward suggestions on global ocean governance under the new situation. The members of the review team reckoned that the research was highly relevant and systematic, and made pragmatic suggestions for the project. They unanimously agreed the project acceptance, believing that the security of China’s overseas interests can be explored under the “Blue Partnership” in the future.
Finally, in the summary of the review meeting, Pan Xinchun, Vice President and Secretary General of China Oceanic Development Foundation, highly praised the academic achievements of the three teams and hoped that the scholars would put forward suggestions on China’s future cooperation in ocean development from “a higher, a more far-reaching and a more practical perspective”. (Text/Ruan Wenjia, Translate/Bao Yiwen)