To celebrate the 100th anniversary of international relations, the fourth session of the Centenary International Relations: Historical Review of International Relations Discipline was held in Lecture Hall 419 at the Zhanlan Road Campus on 26th April 2018. Professor Mario Telò of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium gave a lecture on “The EU- China- US Trilateral Relationship in an Uncertain World”, and shared with the participating teachers and students his views on this topic. Professor Wei Ling, Director of the China Center for Diplomatic Studies, presided over the lecture and the following discussion.

Professor Mario Telò held that the decade following the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008 was ten years of tremendous change. The economy of developed countries in North America and Europe has shown a trend of decline, creating many “losers” in society and populism. The policies of the United States and Europe are focused more on their domestic markets. This is the root cause of President Trump’s coming to power and Brexit in the United Kingdom. This tendency manifests itself as anti-immigration and trade protectionism. Global cooperation is increasingly unpredictable and uncertain. Therefore, it is necessary to develop inter-regional cooperation to enhance stability. Sino-Europe relations are the most stable and highly institutionalized cooperation. Both China and Europe are against trade protectionism and for the prevention of conflicts through multilateral regional cooperation, and  the harmony of regionalization and globalization. In this world of dramatic changes, the most ideal development trend is to jointly promote world development based on regionalization and globalization. Professor Telò also conducted in-depth exchanges on the opportunities and challenges of terrorism, the process of European integration, and implementation of the “Belt and Road” Initiative in Europe.

2019 is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the discipline of international relations. The aim of organizing a series of related academic activities is to promote the robust development of international relations disciplines, to contribute to global international relations and the construction of non-Western countries’ relationship theories, to promote  theory innovations and academic practice innovations of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and consider the conference as an opportunity to do a solid job of the college "first-class" discipline construction work.

Professor Mario Telò is member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences, the Honorary Director of the European Institute in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Jean Monet Chair Professor.