On October 29th 2018, the international symposium of “China and Europe on the 40th Anniversary of the Initiation of China’s Reform and Opening: Achievement, Challenges, and Prospect” was successfully held in the Shanghai International Studies University. This conference was jointly sponsored by the Shanghai International Studies University and the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, and was organized by the Center for European Union Studies of the Shanghai International Studies University, the Shanghai Institute for European Studies and the EU-China Research Center of College of Europe in Belgium. This conference was also a flagship program of the major academic events of 2018 supported by the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations. Over 80 experts and scholars from famous think tanks and universities of both China and Europe gathered on this conference. They made insightful reviews over the historical process of the China-Europe relations, took discussions on the potential of China-Europe cooperation and the problems confronting this set of bilateral relation, and predicted the future trends of the global situations and prospects of the China-Europe relations. The opening ceremony of this conference was addressed by Mr. ZHANG Feng, vice president of the Shanghai International Studies University and Mr. Asad, a Counsellor of the European Union’s Mission in China. The concluding remarks were made by Prof. XU Mingqi, President of the SIES, and Prof. MEN Jing, director of the EU-China Research Center in the College of Europe. Chinese and European scholars made extensive and insightful discussions in five major fields: “the interaction between China’s reform and opening and the European integration”, “the challenges and prospects of the China-Europe trade and investment”, “the interaction between China-Europe relations and the international system in the past 40 years”, “China-Europe cooperation on international public goods: anti-terrorism, regional affairs and development assistance”, “China-Europe cooperation on science, technology, and environment”.
