During September 21st to 22nd, 2018, the International Conference on “The France-German Axis and the Future of the European Union and of Chinese-European Relations” was held in Tongji University. It was jointly sponsored and organized by the German Studies Center of the Tongji University, the European Studies Center of School of Political Science and International Relations of Tongji University, the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, and the Center for Global Studies of University of Bonn. The Shanghai Association of International Studies and the Shanghai Association of Russian, Central Asian, and Central and Eastern European Studies also took part in its organizing work. The opening ceremony was addressed by Mr. LEI Xinghui, Vice President of the Tongji University, Prof. XU Mingqi, President of the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, and Prof. Stephan Conermann, Vice President of University of Bonn. Mr. DONG Qi, Director of Center for Sino-German Humanity People-to-People Exchange of Tongji University also made a speech. The participants of this symposium included over 60 experts and scholars from well-known universities and think tanks of China and Germany, such as Tongji University, Shanghai International Studies University, Fudan University, Shandong University, East China University of Science and Technology, Universityof Bonn, Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, Helmut Schmidt University, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, the China Institute of International Studies, and the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. Presentations and discussions were made on four major themes: “the internal and external challenges of the European Union”, “the Franco-German Axis”, “the deepening of European Union’s specific policy areas”, and “the trends of China-Europe relations”. Furthermore, on this conference the experts and scholars made in-depth discussions on the hot issues of China-U.S. trade confrontations, “16+1” cooperation mechanism and the future development of China-Europe relations. This conference is a great success.
