Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia— The Second edition of the "Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia" Conference was held on November 1-2, 2019. The conference was organized by "'China-Eurasia' Council for Political and Strategic Research" and Yerevan State University.
Mrs. Lena Nazaryan, Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, in her opening speech, has stated that Armenia gives an importance for strengthening its cooperation with China. She also mentioned that agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the PRC will provide an added impetus to develop economic relations in both bilateral and multilateral levels.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the PRC to Armenia Mr. Tian Erlong noted; "I am very pleased to attend the "Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia Conference" dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, which is organized by Yerevan State University and 'China-Eurasia' Council for Political and Strategic Research." He added, that China and the World are experiencing unprecedented changes of the international pattern for the past 100 years. In response to various global issues and challenges and continuous improvement of global governance capabilities, China is willing to make efforts with countries all over the world, including the Eurasian region, adhering to the path of peaceful development, multilateralism, and to the strategy of mutual benefit, win-win and openness, against the hegemonism and power politics, to contribute in building a new type of international relations and community of human destiny.
In turn, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Public Relations of the Yerevan State University, Dr. Artur H. Israyelyan, said that deepening relations with China is one of the foreign policy priorities of Armenia. Yerevan aims to strengthen Armenia's role in the Eurasian region by expanding relations also with China. He hoped that "Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia" Conference will help in this work.
Director of "China-Eurasia" Council for Political and Strategic Research and founder of the "Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia" Conference, mentioned that during the conference, which was organized by Yerevan State University and "China-Eurasia" Council for Political and Strategic Research the geopolitical, economic and security changes taking place in the Eurasian continent would be discussed. He added that the main aim of the conference is to focus on China's pivot towards Eurasian continent through its Belt and Road initiative, the US pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, EAEU and EU integration projects in Eurasia etc. He stated that the Asia-pacific region stood the main center of economic developments of the world, it is already fact and all states must think about their own political and economic involvement with this region and of course, China, as a young superpower has its very important role here.
The following panels of the Conference followed the opening ceremony:
The first panel was "China, Eurasia and the New World Order", where Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner (International Institute for Peace and University of Vienna, Chair of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces, Austria) delivered keynote speech on "Eurasia between Multipolarity and Multilateralism". Prof. Dr. Süha Atatüre (Head of the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Gedik University, Turkey) joined the conference with the help of video call. His keynote speech was about "The Globalization, Our World and China Today". Dr. Zheng Yuntian (Deputy Director of the World Socialism Institute, Renmin University of China, PRC) during his keynote speech told about the importance of building a Community with a shared future for mankind and the new international vision of the Chinese development model. Dr. Mher D. Sahakyan (Director, "China-Eurasia" Council for Political and Strategic Research) introduced his research on China's national security and Belt and Road Initiative.
The second panel was named "China and the Global Leadership", where Dr. Anahit Parzyan ("China-Eurasia" Council for Political and Strategic Research) spoke about China's cyber policy and introduced Beijing's capabilities for Global cyber leadership. In turn, Dr. Sudhir Kumar Singh (University of Delhi, India) delivered a speech on challenges and opportunities between triangle relations of ASEAN-China. Alexander Korolev (Deputy Head, Eurasian Sector, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia) introduced his research, which was called "EAEU-China: Connecting Eurasia". This panel was chaired by Prof. Dr. Heinz Gärtner.
The third panel was focused on China's Belt and Road initiative and the world. This Russian language panel started with a keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Konstantin Kurylev (RUDN University, Russia), which was about the features of implementation and development prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative. Konstantin Tasits (Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia) continued the topic and spoke about China's Policy in South Caucasus in the context of Belt and Road Initiative. Evelina Moravska (PhD Candidate, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland) introduced her research on China's policy in the region of Caspian Sea. This panel was chaired by Dr. Artur H. Israyelyan.
The fourth panel was dedicated to China's policy in Western Balkans, during which Prof. Dr. Boris Vukićević (Vice-Rector, University of Montenegro, Montenegro) introduced China's policy in the Western Balkans as a new player in the strategic game. The panel was chaired by Dr. Zheng Yuntian.
The second day of the "Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia" conference started with the "China and Eurasia" panel.
Dr. Yu Tao (University of Western Australia, Australia) introduced his research on religions and China's diplomatic endeavors in Eurasia (1979-2019). In turn, Yeghia Tashjian from American University of Beirut, Lebanon, dedicated his speech to China's policy on Iranian nuclear issue and China's Energy Security. Dr. Larisa Smirnova shared her thoughts about some differences between Russian and Chinese understanding of the meaning of "developing" and "developed" states during this panel. This panel was chaired by Dr. Varuzhan Geghamyan (Assistant Professor, Yerevan State University/ Director, ARDI Institute, Armenia). During this panel speakers, chair and attendees discussed also the meaning of "Eurasia" term from the different schools' perspectives.
The next panel was called "China, Policy, Subcultures and Information". This Russian language panel started with a keynote speech by Dr. Hovhannes Sargsyan (Head, Department of Political Science, Russian-Armenian University, Armenia). His paper was dedicated to cultural and civilizational foundations of Chinese strategic culture. In turn, Dr. Nadezhda Kotelnikova (Volgograd State Pedagogical University, Russia) delivered speech on Chinese city subcultures in the context of urban communication studies. The next speaker was Michal Marek (PhD Candidate, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland). He introduced his research on factors and events that shape the image of China in the Polish information space. Dr. Anton Evstratov (Russian-Armenian University, Armenia) spoke about China's policy in the Central Asia. Andranik Hovhannisyan's (Russian-Armenian University, Armenia) paper was titled "Russia and China 'A New Big Game' in the Central Asia". Ruzanna Airapetova (PhD Student, Russian-Armenian University, Armenia) delivered a speech on public diplomacy of China and Armenia. This panel was chaired by Dr. Hovhannes Sargsyan.
The seven panel was dedicated to China's role in Shanghai Cooperation organization and its relations with NATO. During this panel Slobodan Popovic (PhD Candidate, University of Belgrade, Serbia) spoke about geopolitical role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization within the Belt and Road Initiative. Dr. Anna Zalinyan (Public Administration Academy of RA, Armenia) introduced her research on NATO-China Council relationship in political-military dimensions. Dr. Saren Abgaryan (Shanghai Jiatong University, PRC) changed the direction of the panel and introduced the new Foreign investment law of China from the viewpoint of foreign companies in China. The aforementioned panel was chaired by Dr. Anahit Parzyan. In the last panel thanks to technologies, by the help of video call Giulia Sciorati (University of Trento) raised and answered to the following question: "Is the Belt and Road Initiative under Siege?" In turn, Elisa Gambino (PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK) introduced her research on Chinese participation in Kenyan Transport Infrastructure Projects.
During the conference an exhibition titled "Beautiful China" was also organized by the support of Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Armenia. Speakers also visited the history museum of Yerevan State University.
Among honorable guests of the conference were senior councilor of the Embassy of Russian Federation in Armenia, Mr. Aleksander Ananev, Councilor of the PRC Embassy in Armenia Mr. Zhou Hongyou, Councilor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Armenia Miss. Asel Isimova, Ambassador Dr. Arman Navasardyan, Dr. Robert Ghazaryan (Vice Director, IOS, NAS), attaché of the Embassy of Russian Federation in Armenia, Mr. Dmitri Demkin and other diplomats and scholars.