Party-to-party relations, an integral part of the diplomacy of China, have attracted growing attention and become a focus of research during the past few years. China Foreign Affairs University is renowned for its study of diplomacy and international relations, so it is natural for the university to step up academic efforts in this field.
In 2003, the Department of Basic Education at CFAU initiated studies on political parties and party politics. It has since published more than 20 relevant articles and offered a variety of courses, including Studies on Political Parties, Comparative Studies of International Political Parties, History of World’s Major Political Parties, and Studies on the CPC’s Party Diplomacy. These courses were provided for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the Training Class for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Young Cadres. In December 2011, the department gained approval from the university for the specialty program of Studies of Party Politics and Party Diplomacy within the major program of Scientific Socialism and International Communist Movements, a second-level master’s degree discipline. The specialty program featured courses such as Party Politics and Party Diplomacy, Studies on International Organizations of Political Parties and so on. On December 17, 2011, the department hosted a seminar on Party Diplomacy and Expert Consultation Meetings for Building the Discipline of Scientific Socialism.
In April 2012, the university approved the setting up of the Party Diplomacy Research Center within the Marxism-Leninism Division of the Department of Basic Education. The center, within the framework of the master’s degree program of Scientific Socialism, aims to become a key player by integrating leading scholars from relevant departments at CFAU, offering posts of adjunct professors and researchers to experts from the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Renmin University of China, other universities and institutions. The director of the center is Professor Yu Kejie.
The center focuses on the following aspects:
l Party Diplomacy Theories. To further answer the question of what is party diplomacy and how to conduct it, the center addresses fundamental issues concerning origins, definitions, features, strengths and weakness, acting parties and subjects, forms and attributes of party diplomacy and party politics. In this process, the center examines aims and objectives, themes, basic principles and fundamental tasks, strategies and arts of the CPC’s party diplomacy. It discusses acting parties, various communicative channels and dialogue mechanisms, suspension and restoration of the party-to-party relations, the departments and institutions concerned as well as their relationship with the rest of diplomatic system. In short, the center aims to build a theoretical framework of modern China’s party diplomacy and establish the discipline of Party Diplomacy.
l History and Practices of the CPC’s Party Diplomacy. The center discusses the aim, role and impact of the CPC’s international works before the founding of the PRC in 1949 from the perspective of party diplomacy. It reviews the relevant history from 1949 to the late 1970s and, in particular, from the new era of reform and opening-up in 1978 to the present. It stresses the role and influence of party diplomacy in the light of China’s diplomacy and the Party’s cause in the new era.
l The CPC’s Party Diplomacy with the World. The center looks at party diplomacy with major regions (Japan, Africa, Latin America, Russian Federation, etc.), political parties, and political party organizations (Socialist International, International Democrat Union, Liberal International, etc.). It investigates the CPC’s agenda, characteristics, historical course and basic experiences in conducting party-to-party contacts.
l Party diplomacy of major countries and political parties, including the relations within socialist and liberal parties, and between socialist parties and democratic parties.
l Fundamental and extensive issues concerning party politics and party diplomacy, globalization and party diplomacy, comparison between socialism and capitalism, the international communist movement and party diplomacy, and the CPC’s party building in the global era.
Academic Team
l Full-Time Researchers from China Foreign Affairs University:
Professor Yu Kejie, director of the Party Diplomacy Research Center and supervisor of master’s degree students.
Professor Gao Fei, assistant president of CFAU, deputy secretary-general of the China National Association for International Studies, visiting professor at the University of Strasbourg in France, and senior Fulbright Scholar.
Associate Professor Zhang Mingxia, Department of Basic Education.
Associate Professor Yang Hui, Department of Diplomacy.
Associate Professor Ren Yuanzhe, Department of Diplomacy.
l Part-Time Researchers:
Zhou Yuyun, deputy director of the Research Office of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and research fellow.
Chai Shangjin, research fellow at the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.
Ji Zhengju, director of the Department of Marxist Studies at the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CPC, research fellow and doctoral supervisor.
Lin Deshan, director of the Division for Political Parties at the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CPC and research fellow.
Xin Xiangyang, vice president to the Second Department of the Marxist Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, research fellow and doctoral supervisor.
Sun Daiyao, director of the Scientific Socialism Institute at the School of Marxism at Peking University, professor and doctoral supervisor.
Pu Guoliang, director of the Institute of World Socialism at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, professor and doctoral supervisor.
Selected Publication Citations of Professor Yu Kejie
l Journal Articles:
More than 40 articles published by core academic journals, including Contemporary World & Socialism, Issues of Contemporary World Communism, Studies on the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Studies on Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theories, Foreign Affairs Review (Journal of China Foreign Affairs University), Expanding Horizons，and Journal of Beijing Administrative College
Articles relative to party diplomacy in reverse chronological order:
Yu Kejie. “On the Origin and Development of the ‘Party-To-Party Diplomacy’: An Etymologically-Based Review,” Foreign Affairs Review, 150.4 (July 2015): 124-136.
Yu Kejie, Li Xiaohan. “On relationship between the CPC and ‘World’s Meeting of Communist and Worker’s Partiers’,” Contemporary World & Socialism,116.4 (April 2015): 60-67.
Yu Kejie. “Reflections on Comparative Studies of Chinese and Foreign Political Party System,” Expanding Horizons, 187.1 (January 2015): 40-46.
Yu Kejie. “On the History and Characteristics of CPC’s Party Diplomacy with Latin American Countries which have no Diplomatic Relations with the PRC,” Contemporary World & Socialism, 106.6 (December 2013): 115-121.
Yu Kejie. “Some Thoughts on Party Diplomacy,” Contemporary World & Socialism, 94.6 (December 2011):100-104.
Yu Kejie. “On Basic Experience of the CPC’s Work on Party Diplomacy.” Studies on The Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, No. 3 (June 2011): 33-37.
Yu Kejie. “On Theoretical System of Deng Xiaoping's Thought on Party Diplomacy,” Journal of China Foreign Affairs University, No.1 (January 2005): 75-79.
l Books:
Basic Theory of Political Parties. Beijing: World Affairs Press, January, 2015.
l Book Chapters:
Yu Kejie. “On Deng Xiaoping’s Theory of Party Diplomacy.” In Commemoration of Deng Xiaoping. ed. Beijing: Central Party Literature Press, 2004, 886-897.
(The Best Paper Award of Theme Writing Activity in Commemoration of Deng Xiaoping hosted by Beijing Municipality)
l Research Projects (in reverse chronological order):
“Studies on Party Diplomacy of Major Parties in Taiwan Region of China,” a general project sponsored by the Beijing Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science in June 2015.
“Studies on the Historical Experiences of the CPC’s Work of Party Diplomacy Since the Founding of the PRC,” a general project sponsored by the National Social Science Foundation in June 2014.
“Studies on Party Diplomacy,” a major innovation project sponsored by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in December 2012.
“Basic Theories on Party Diplomacy,” a CFAU project sponsored by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in May 2012 and concluded in May 2014.
“Basic Theories on Party Politics of Taiwan Region of China,” a key project sponsored by CFAU in 2009 and concluded in November 2012.
