The Center for Strategic and International Studies which has long focused on the South China Sea（ SCS） issue,produces a large number of researches and has exerted a certain influence on the US policy of SCS. Based on the analysis of CSIS’s four kinds of publications on SCS from 2009 to 2022,it can be found that the researches of CSIS focus on the interpretation of China’s SCS policy,the analysis of SCS disputes,the discussion of the SCS issues under the triangular relations between the United States,China and ASEAN,and the provision of opinions and suggestions for the US SCS policy. Its researches with strong foresight and predictability as well as obviously contradiction,show the characteristics of both micro and macro,ideological and objective coexistence. The reason why CSIS can produce high-quality research is due to its institutional design in terms of research independence,personnel mobility,research methods and public participation. These measures have certain reference significance for Chinese think tanks of international affairs.
The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the China-ASEAN community of shared future. This initiative has achieved a number of results at the regional level,sub-regional level and bilateral level,and it has been actively recognized by ASEAN and its members,and became a behavioral guide to friendly cooperation between the two sides. At the same time,some ASEAN countries’ political elites have cognitive biases on the “China-ASEAN community of shared future”and adopt vague or selective response to the initiative,which affects the comprehensive and in-depth promotion of the initiative. Through the analytical methods of international political psychology,this paper will explore the causes and forms of the cognitive biases of ASEAN political elites,be expected to find helpful solutions,remove distractions and increase momentum for building a more closer China-ASEAN community of shared future.
The “Belt and Road” Initiative（BRI） requires a set of high standard international economic and trade rules, which serve as a guideline for pooling the strength of countries along the BRI, and for facilitating cooperation and resolving differences among them. As far as the current rules relating to the BRI in the fields of trade, finance and investment, taxation, intellectual property rights, dispute settlement and other fields are concerned, there are still inadequacies in light of the need of the BRI: fragmentation, obsoleteness and unadaptability, occurrence of US-style discriminatory rules in unilateral and regional forms,difficulty in initiating reform of WTO multilateral rules, incompetent guarantee mechanism for debt sustainability, and lack of digital trade rules, as well as uneven status of the rule of law in countries along the BRI. In the event of ill-preparedness of the international economic and trade rules for the high-quality development of the BRI, it is necessary to innovate and improve the rules on the basis of the existing mechanisms and rules with a practice-guided approach, to guide cooperation, promote exchanges, standardize actions, and resolve differences, and promote the high-quality development of the BRI with the goal of building an inclusive and complex international economic and trade rule system.
Today’s human society is facing a series of huge and serious challenges. New global situations and problems are emerging in an endless stream. The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. China’s development has also entered a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities, risk, challenges, and increased uncertainties. Facing the comprehensive strategic containment, competition and confrontation of the United States, a very important strategic idea of China is to rebuild the current and future international environment,especially the surrounding areas. China has the foundation and experience to create a good international environment around it, and should regard the reconstruction of the international environment around it as the focus of China’s diplomatic strategy and foreign policy. We should implement China’s concept of neighboring diplomacy, achieve “people to people connectivity”, rely on the “the Belt and Road” initiative platform, build a community with a shared future in the neighborhood, and create a better external environment for achieving socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The intergovernmental negotiations on marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction（ BBNJ） have entered a vital stage. During the fifth intergovernmental conference that concluded in August 2022,delegations started to compromise on certain issues and new characteristics appeared. Although divergent views from different delegations remained,many delegations stated that their positions are flexible indicating that the real divergence is decreasing. The key divergences that concern China’s national interest and might relate to whether next negotiation could reach a deal include four issues. They are monetary benefit sharing of marine generic resources,identification of area-based management tools and disputed maritime areas,decision making mechanisms,and dispute settlement procedures. From the perspective of China,the existing provisions under BBNJ draft agreements cannot satisfy China’s national interest,and it is challenging for China to change this disadvantageous situation in the forthcoming negotiation.
