The 8th China-Malaysia International Seminar on “the Belt and Road: Maritime Silk Road” convened on Nov 23 at Xiamen Campus of Huaqiao University (HQU). Co-hosted by HQU and Southern University College of Malaysia (Southern UC), and organized by HQU College of International Relations, Center of Malaysia Studies, and Maritime Silk Road Institute, the seminar brought together over 30 experts and academics from both countries. Their discussions centered on the theme of “China-Malaysia Relationship Development Strategy”.

HQU Vice President Lin Hongyu and Southern UC President Chuah Joon Huang attended the opening ceremony. Liew Chin Tong, the Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry of Malaysia addressed the ceremony via video message.

The seminar featured four sub-forums on the topics of economic and trade cooperation and development strategies, cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties, religious faith and civilization, and China-Malaysia relations and Malaysian Chinese community development. A diverse group of esteemed academics delivered keynote speeches at the sub-forum discussions. The speakers included Wang Yuzhu, Head and research fellow of Department of Regional Cooperation Studies at National Institute of International Strategy of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Prof. Zhai Kun, Deputy Director of the Institute of Area Studies of Peking University; Prof. Su Yingying, Director of School of Asian Studies of Beijing Foreign Studies University; Prof. Cheng Hanping, senior researcher of Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies at Nanjing University; Prof. Ge Hongliang, Deputy Director of College of ASEAN Studies of Guangxi Minzu University; Assoc. Prof. Luo Chuanyu, Deputy Director of China-ASEAN Research Institute at Guangxi University; Assoc. Prof Khor Boon Eng, Head of Department of Southeast Asian Studies of Southern UC; Assoc. Prof. Ngeow Chow Bing. Director of the Institute of China Studies of University of Malaya and Assoc. Prof. Chin Chong Foh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies at Tunku Abdul Rahman University.

Since 2016, HQU and Southern UC have co-hosted the annual event in a bid to bolster China-Malaysia relations and pave the way for building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The seminar alternates between the two institutions each year, and has gained significant traction in both countries, establishing itself as a vital platform for in-depth exchanges and practical cooperation between Chinese and Malaysian academics.

At the Conference

(Editor: Wei Linying)