In order to create more academic dialogues, enhance students’ intercultural communication skills, and promote exchanges between faculty and students, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) successfully held the "Friday Event" Academic Salon in the afternoon of December 10, 2021. The event was moderated by Dr. Yan Zhen and Prof. Wang Li, faculty members of SIPA, and invited four SIPA’s international alumni who are active in the international academic field, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of SIPA. The event is hold online discussion on the theme of "China's relationship with the world", with more than 50 international students participating in this event.

Four international alumni of SIPA discussed "How to view the rise of China in today's international relations". 2019 PhD graduate and Pakistani alumnus Asif Amin, Director of the Directorate of International Linkages and assistant professor at the Faculty of School of Peace & Counter Terrorism in Minhaj University, mentioned that China is playing an increasingly important role in international and regional issues such as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and Afghanistan issues. Jamal Ait laadam, a 2020 PhD graduate, Moroccan alumnus and lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Université Polytechnique du Maroc, spoke about China's vaccine aid to Africa and how China's cooperation and exchange with the African region, as a defender of the current international order, has contributed to local socio-economic development. Anna Kolotova, a PhD graduate of the class of 2020, a Russian alumnus and a postdoctoral fellow at the Global Engagement Academy of Shandong University (Weihai), interpreted it from the perspective of Sino-Russian relations, she noted that China has achieved remarkable development in a relatively short period of time, and with the development of China, the relations between Russia and China have become more and more favorable. Based on a high level of mutual trust, the two countries have become closer in the summit, economic, trade, infrastructure and other aspects, mutual benefit was achieved, which is a model of today’s international relations. Bright Lumor Mensah, a 2019 PhD graduate, Ghanaian alumnus and assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Ho Technical University, Ghana, said that China's development model offers a new option for developing countries and the rise of China is of great importance to the majority of developing countries.

Li Chen Si, an undergraduate student of SIPA, combined her own experience working for an NGO and talked about how China should strengthen its own soft power in the process of its rise so that its voice can be heard and understood by the world. Yang Yizhong, a PhD candidate from the Institute of National Development and Security Studies discussed China-U.S. relations, pointing out that with the rise of China, the U.S. is increasingly competing with China in economic, trade, technology and finance. Liu Zhichen, a postgraduate student of SIPA, argued that China's rise is essentially a matter of national development, and that every country has the right to develop, and that a developed China is more conducive to sustainable global development at a time when global issues are becoming more prominent.

At the end of the event, Prof. Wang Li and Dr. Yan Zhen summarized the ideas of the participants and pointed out that with the development of China, the world is increasingly interested in understanding "What China wants". The participants exchanged views on how to make the world understand China better and discussed the role of public diplomacy and the young generation engagement in this regard. During the event, the participants gain a better understanding of each other, established good communication channels, and successfully concluded the event in a warm atmosphere.

 "Friday Event" aims to build a cross-cultural, multi-topic and high-level academic exchange platform. By inviting guests from different countries and different cultural backgrounds to discuss current major international affairs, “Friday Event” makes continuous exchange between different and views possible. This semester, “Friday Event” has been successfully held for 5 times, which plays a significant role in promoting academic exchanges between faculty and students and strengthening the ties between Chinese students and international students. In the future, SIPA will continue holding “Friday Events” and make it a major platform of practicing the idea public diplomacy.

Almathil Ismail Abdulsalam Saleh and Liu Zhichen report