On October 18-19, 2019, SIIS and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Shanghai Representative Office co-held the 16th Conference on “China – EU Relations and the Taiwan Question” in Shanghai. This conference was also supported by Shanghai Society of International Relations.

Nearly 40 participants were invited, including European scholars from German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), War Studies University, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Center for China-EU Relations, and University of Cologne and University of West Hungary, and Chinese scholars from Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, Xiamen University, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, Shanghai Institute for East Asian Studies, East China Normal University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Participants had in-depth discussion on the China-EU relations, the political situation in Taiwan towards 2020, development of the cross-strait relations and some related factors, and the Chinese mainland’s policy towards Taiwan.

Dr. Shao Yuqun, Director of the Institute for Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macao Studies, SIIS, hosted the opening ceremony. Prof. Yan Anlin, Vice President of SIIS, Gudrun Wacker, Senior Fellow of Research Division Asia, SWP, René BORMANN, Resident Director of Shanghai Representative Office, FES, and Wang Lixin, Deputy Director-General of Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office delivered opening remarks. Laurence Vandewalle, Counselor of Political, Press and Information Section, Delegation of the EU to China and Liu Yuli, Counselor of Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, attended the conference. Dun Shixin, Director-General from Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, delivered a keynote speech and interacted with the participants.