Original Source: China Foundation for International Studies
The Foundation was established in 1999 and operates primarily as a think tank focused on international and strategic issues. The Foundation operates CFIS Net (国际网), publishing content on current foreign affairs and research by its affiliates and other prominent Chinese foreign policy scholars and practitioners. The current director-general is Lan Lijun, former Chinese ambassador to Indonesia, Canada, and Sweden.
A Middle East researcher explores drivers behind Arab countries’ growing interest in BRICS membership, on the back of successful accession of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates to the organization in 2023. He argues that the countries hope to benefit economically from closer ties with China and Russia in the energy field, but also see BRICS membership as a way to accelerate the formation of a multipolar world order more favorable to their interests.
One of China’s most well-known scholars of American studies, Da Wei, argues that the United States and China need to reach a new strategic understanding about Taiwan in order to avoid a larger crisis. However, he suggests that this has become more difficult “because some of the long-term fundamentals underlying the Taiwan issue have changed,” including the deterioration in U.S.-China relations, the narrowing power gap between the United States and China, and the growing power gap across the Taiwan Strait.
The vice president of CICIR, a Ministry of State Security-affiliated IR think tank, argues that Beijing’s introduction of the Global Security Initiative (GSI) is timely amid “turmoil” in the international system. He identifies three strategies China should follow as it promotes the principles of the GSI, which Xi Jinping laid out at the 2022 Bo’ao Forum for Asia in April.
A prominent Russia scholar at Fudan University argues that the Russia-Ukraine war has accelerated disruptions to global supply chains, reevaluation of global trade and investment rules, and efforts to reform and reshape security architecture both globally and regionally. However, he sees these trends as best characterized as a “small divergence” in the international order, rather than a move toward a Cold War-style confrontation between two hostile camps. Notably, Feng makes a point to distance China from Russia’s war. He argues that given meaningful differences in U.S. assessments of Russia and China, Beijing can play an important role in reducing the risk of what he terms global “re-campification” (再阵营化).