Background and Significance of the Forum

City Diplomacy has become an Important Part of China's Public Diplomacy

The twenty-first century is the century of city. As predicted by the United Nations，with an average annual growth of about 79 million, the world population will exceed 9 trillion in 2043. As late as to 2050, the city population will account for 2/3 of the world population. A research report released by McKinsey says that city economy is more centralized than it seems to be. The 600 central cities that occupy only 1/5 of the global population have created 60% of the world's GDP. Opportunities and challenges of human will all relevant with city in the future.

With the process of globalization and urbanization, competition between cities will become the most important for countries in the twenty-first century. Almost all international activities between countries happen in cities. Although these activities do not directly happen in cities, cities provide transportation, communication support for these activities. Central cities are symbols of the country's culture and civilization, and they also highlight the consciousness of national culture. From the perspective of soft power, city is becoming an important support and even the basic carrier the overall strategy of national culture.

In this background, the status of city has become more and more important as the political, economic, and cultural hub. Cities take more positive and active roles in diplomatic activities. As part of the overall national diplomacy, city diplomacy is becoming a new method of diplomacy.

On May 15, 2014, at China International Friendship Conference in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the CPAFFC President Xi pointed out that city diplomacy, civil diplomacy, public diplomacy are equally important. He proposed to vigorously carry out the work between sister-cities, promote Chinese and foreign local government contacts so as to realize resource sharing, complementary advantages and cooperation. This was an affirmation of China's city diplomacy and it presented higher standards for city diplomacy theory and practice.

The Main Work of The Charhar Institute on City Diplomacy

In order to implement the instructions "To promote public diplomacy steadily" that proposed at the report of the eighteenth National Congress of CPC, The Charhar Institute decided to take "city diplomacy" as a key work of public diplomacy.

The Charhar Institute has carried out the following work on city diplomacy in 2013.

March, 2013, five articles were published on Public Diplomacy Quarterly (spring, 2013) with the theme of "City and Public Diplomacy".

May, 2013, The Charhar Institute , China International Friendship Cities Association and South Korea and China Regional Economic Association jointly held the sub forum "New Pattern of City Diplomacy between Korea and China" in the 8th Jeju Forum.

May to July, 2013, senior researchers including Xiong Wei, Yu Wanli, Ke Yinbin made investigation and research in Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Yangzhou and other cities.

July, 2013, The Charhar Institute held the "Theory and Practice of City Diplomacy" roundtable at the Annual Meeting of Chinese Community of Political Science and International Studies 2013 of Tsinghua University.

September 2013, The Charhar Institute, Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office and China Foreign Affairs University jointly held the Guangzhou City Diplomatic Conference and co-wrote the book "Theory and Practice of China's City Diplomacy".

October, 2013 The Charhar Institute and Yangzhou Foreign Affairs Office signed " Protocol of Yangzhou -Charhar City Diplomacy Case Study Base ".

November, 2013, City Diplomacy Research Center was established. Xiong Wei served as director, Yu Wanli served as the vice director. Members: Zhao Kejin, Xiong Wei, Zhao Xinli, Lyu Xiaoli, Ke Yinbin etc. Secretary: Chen Lu.

The Charhar Institute has carried out the following work of city diplomacy in 2014.

February 2014,The Charhar Institute started the research project City Diplomacy Cases of China and Foreign Countries.

June, 2014, The Charhar Institute and Xining Foreign Affairs Office, Xining City Public Diplomacy Association jointly held "Xining: the cool city and ecological civilized city" seminar, and co-edited a collection of papers, and signed Cooperation Agreement on City Diplomacy Case Study.

June 20th, 2014, The Charhar Institute and China Foreign Affairs University jointly held the 1st Forum of Local Governments and Universities on Public Diplomacy. The Institute and Wenzhou Foreign Affairs Office signed the Cooperation Agreement on City Diplomacy Case Study.

September, 2014 , the first collection of China city diplomacy cases: City Diplomacy: China's Practice and Foreign Experience was published by Xinhua Press, edited by Dr. Han Fangming, president of The Charhar Institute.

October 30th, 2014 ,The Charhar Institute, the Netherland Institute of International Relations, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, and Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association will jointly hold the 3rd International Forum on Public Diplomacy, focusing on practice and exploration of city diplomacy: Sino-European Dialogue.

Theme: Practice and Exploration of City Diplomacy

International Forum on Public Diplomacy is an international and annual public diplomacy forum which is jointly held by The Charhar Institute, China, The Netherland Institute of International Relations, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, and Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association.

The 1st International Forum on Public Diplomacy was held in Beijing on May 18, 2012 with the theme of" Wisdom of Public Diplomacy: China-US-EU Dialogue". Zhao Qizheng, director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of CPPCC made the keynote speech. Experts and scholars from Netherland, Germany, the US , China, etc. attended the forum and made speeches. Over 150 people from the governments, institutes, NGOs and media attended the forum.

The 2nd International Forum on Public Diplomacy was held in Hague on September 19, 2012 with the theme of "Culture and Understanding in Sino-EU Relation". Lyu Fengding, co-Chair of the International Advisory Board of The Charhar Institute, led a delegation of 8 people to the forum. The Hague Consensus was launched.

On October 30th , 2014 ,The Charhar Institute, China, The Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, and Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association will jointly hold the 3rd international forum on public diplomacy with the theme of City Diplomacy: Dialogue between China and Eu.

The forum has two parts: the first part is the opening ceremony and keynote speech where leaders from 6 sponsors and 10 experts and officials from China and abroad make speeches. The second part is composed of symposiums and dialogues.

Push forward City Diplomacy Steadily

In fact, China's city diplomacy practice has been preceded theory research. City diplomacy has promoted the development of economy, society and culture, and made important contribution to national diplomacy. Since the reform and opening up, with the progress of internationalization and urbanization, city is becoming more and more important in the national development strategy and diplomacy. How to realize the target of city development and internationalization through city diplomacy has become an important topic for many cities.

However, China's rich city diplomacy practices have not been summarized theoretically yet. The forum will put practice cases and academic studies together, building an interactive platform for Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, government officials, and it will promote the China's city diplomatic work in many aspects.

First of all, rich and colorful city diplomatic practice would be summarized in theory. These theory researches and their results will help the practice of city diplomacy to be more effective and steadier.

Secondly, the theory research based on practices will enrich China's city diplomacy theory. It will help China to have more discourse rights of public diplomacy in the international community.

Finally, this activity will become a stage for Chinese and foreign experts and scholars to learn from and communicate with each other. And the activity itself will be an important public diplomacy activity, which will have a positive effect on China’s city diplomacy.