On September 29, 2021, the Seminar on “South Asia and Middle East Relations against the Background of Major Change” jointly organized by the Center for Middle Easteren Studies of Peking University （CMES-PKU） and the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was held at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang Lincong delivering opening remarks

Wu Bingbing delivering opening remarks

Wang Lincong, Deputy Director of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Wu Bingbing, Director of CMES-PKU, Chair Professor of State of Qatar Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Peking University, first delivered opening remarks on behalf of the seminar organizers and expressed their sincere welcome to the experts and scholars participating in the seminar. Wang Lincong said that as the situation in Afghanistan continues to evolve, the internal linkage between South Asia and West Asia continues to become prominent, which enlightens the academic community to strengthen cross-regional research awareness and find common factors linking the two regions. Wu Bingbing pointed out that the Middle East countries such as Iran, Turkey and Qatar have played increasingly prominent roles in the situation in Afghanistan, thus the seminar was held at the right time and built a good communication platform for scholars working on South Asian and Middle Eastern studies.

Tang Zhichao hosting the first session of the seminar

The seminar was divided into two sessions, which were hosted respectively by Tang Zhichao, Director of the Political Research Office of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, and Wu Bingbing, Director of CMES-PKU. More than 20 experts and scholars from Peking University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Institute of International Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, and University of International Business and Economics attended the seminar, presenting speeches and exchanging views over various topics including the roles and policies of regional and Middle Eastern countries in the situation in Afghanistan, the impact of the U.S. withdrawal policy on the regional and global strategic situation, the evolution of terrorism.

Finally, Wu Bingbing, Director of CMES-PKU, pointed out in his concluding remarks that the speeches of the participating experts were cut from different perspectives and dimensions, further demonstrating that the linkage between the Middle East and South Asia has long existed and is continuously being strengthened. In the future, the academic community can continue to expand its research horizons by deepening the research on the economic, social, and personnel relations between the two regions, and including the Central Asia region in the scope of academic investigations to further enrich the connotation and extension of cross-regional research.

This seminar was also supported by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.