China-Central Asia Relations and the Role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

A lecture by Professor Pan Guang, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences on Chin-Central Asia relations and the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization over ten years.

In this talk, Pan Guang will give an overview of 18 years of China-Central Asia relations (1992-2010) and discuss the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization over ten years. He will conclude with some perspectives on what China can do in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan-Pakistan.

Dr. Pan Guang is Vice Chairman and Professor at the Shanghai Center for International Studies and Academic Director of the Institute of European and Asian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He is also Director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Studies Center in Shanghai, Dean of the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai (CJSS) and Vice President of the Chinese Association of Middle East Studies. He is an International Council Member of the Asia Society (US), Senior Advisor of the China-Eurasia Forum (US), Advisory Board Member of the Asia Europe Journal in Singapore, and Senior Advisor on Anti-Terror Affairs to the Mayor of Shanghai. In the US, he is International Council Member of the Asia Society, Senior Advisor of the China-Eurasia Forum, Advisory Board Member of the Asia Europe Journal (by ASEF) in Singapore, Member of the Board Management Committee of Asian Scholarship Foundation in Bangkok and Senior Advisor on Anti-terror Affairs to Shanghai Municipality and Ministry of Public Security of PRC. He is the recipient of the James Friend Annual Memorial Award for Sino-Jewish Studies (1993), a Special Award for Research on Canadian Jews from China (1996), and the St. Petersburg-300 Medal for Contribution to China-Russia Relations, presented by President Putin in 2004. He was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the High-Level Group for the UN Alliance of Civilizations in 2005, and appointed Ambassador of the AoC in 2008.

Prof. Pan has published books and articles on a variety of topics such as: the Jews in China; Open Door Policy in Asia, Africa and Latin America; Arab-African History; the 2003 U.S. war on Iraq; "From Silk Road to ASEM: 2000 years of Asia-Europe Relations;" relations between China, Central Asia, and Russia; SCO and China’s role in the war on terrorism; contemporary international crises; China's Success in the Middle East; the anti-terrorism strategy and the role in the war on terror of China; Islam and Confucianism and the development of Islam in China; ethnic and religious conflicts in the Pacific Rim area; and China and post-Soviet Central Asia.