On the morning of Dec. 1st, Academic Seminar of “China’s Participation in Global Economic Governance” and the Meeting for Editors of Academic Journals was held in the International Conference Hall on the north campus of GDUFS. On the opening ceremony, Sui Guangjun, CPC secretary of GDUFS and vice president of GRIIS, Zhong Weihe, president of GDUFS, Stephen Nicholas, one of the Yunshan Scholars of GDUFS and Professor Chintamani Mahapatra, from International Studies School of Indian Jawaharlal Nehru University, together launched the Centre for Indian Studies of GRIIS.
Centre for Indian Studies of GRIIS is an academic institute, concentrating on the issues of India and South Asia. The aim of the Centre is to focus on India, pay attention to South Asia and serve China. Its development orientation is to have an accurate grasp of the situations and development strategies of India and other South Asian countries with a global perspective, provide decision reference and information service for the international strategy making of Guangdong and seek to establish itself as the most influential centre for South Asian studies in the Asian-Pacific region.
The establishment of Centre for Indian Studies of GRIIS has attracted wide concern. Professor Sun Shihai, president of Chinese Association for South Asian Studies, also sent a letter of congratulation. The full text is as follows:
Congratulation Letter on the Establishment of Centre for Indian Studies
I am so glad to hear that Centre for Indian Studies is established and I hereby express warm congratulations on behalf of Chinese Association for South Asian Studies.
China and India, as two rising economic entities and enormous markets, could contribute a lot to each other's economic development. These two countries have a lot in common and are facing similar opportunities and challenges. Therefore, the mutual beneficial cooperation between China and India would not only bring real benefits to the citizens of both countries, but also be of great significance to the peace and prosperity of Asia.
In the past 20 years, there has been a comprehensive development in Sino-Indian relations. However, due to the diversities between the two countries in politics, economy, society and culture, as well as some problems left over by history, there still exists a huge gap in mutual perception which even lead to misunderstanding. Most importantly, the two countries are still devoid of mutual trust in politics and strategies. The “think-tank” is playing a significant role in clearing up the doubts between China and India and enhancing the mutual beneficial cooperation between them.
Guangdong Province has been a leader in the economic and trade cooperation with India and other South Asian countries. In order to further exploit the the potential of cooperation with South Asian countries like India, a specialized research team is indispensable for intellectual support. As a result, Centre for Indian Studies of GRIIS is established just in time. We hope the Center will keep developing and take on a more and more important role in providing decision reference and information service for Guangdong and even China.
President of Chinese Association for South Asian Studies
