Wang Dong, Full Professor with Tenure at School of International Studies and Executive Director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (iGCU), PKU
Wang Dong: Distinguished leaders, dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning!
Welcome to Peking University on this hot summer day to attend the Thematic Forum on “Building Smart Cities in a Changing World”! As a thematic forum of the Global Digital Economy Conference 2023, this forum is hosted by the Organizing Committee of Beijing Global Digital Economy Conferenceand co-hosted by Harbor Overseas, Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (iGCU) of Peking University and Hong Kong Institution for International Finance.
Wang Dong: First of all, we would like to invite Prof. Jiang Shigong, director of Peking University's Office of Humanities and Social Sciences, to make the opening remark. Let’s applaud to welcome Prof. Jiang!
Wang Dong: Thank you very much, Prof. Jiang, for your wonderful opening remark. Prof. Jiang himself is an authoritative scholar on globalization, so he has just given a very brief and incisive analysis of globalization and the origins of the modern city. Prof. Jiang is also my superior, and my sincere gratitude goes to Prof. Jiang for his substantial support.
Now let’s welcome Mr. Peng Xuehai, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, to deliver a speech!
Wang Dong: We are very grateful to Mr. Peng Xuehai, for his wonderful speech. He not only shared the significance of smart cities in the building of digital China but also elaborate on the building of “digital Beijing”. Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology is also one of the major supporters of this forum. Thank you very much, Mr. Peng.
Now let’s welcome Prof. Tang Shiqi, Dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University, to give a speech.
Wang Dong: Thank you very much, Prof. Tang, for your wonderful explanation of the theme of this Forum from the perspective of international relations. Prof. Tang has also set out his expectations for the Forum today. Thank you very much, Prof. Tang! Prof. Tang is also the leader of our school. My deepest gratitude goes to both Mr. Peng and Prof. Tang, for your great support today.
Keynote Speeches
Wang Dong: Now it’s time for our keynote speeches. Let’s start by welcoming Mr. Djoomart Otorbaev, former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, to deliver the keynote address.
Wang Dong: Thanks very much to Mr. Otobayev, for his fabulous keynote speech. In his speech, he elaborated on the major role of smart cities in the process of modernization and introduced an essential principle for the building of smart cities, namely, people-centered.
Next, let’s welcome Prof. Yu Hongjun,Deputy Secretary of the Peking University Council, Boya Distinguished Professor of Peking University, Doctoral Supervisor of Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, and Vice Chairman of Beijing Federation of Social Sciences Circles, to deliver the keynote speech.
Wang Dong: Thanks very much to Prof. Yu Hongjun for his wonderful keynote speech. He has elaborated on the strategic importance of smart cities for urban digital governance and their important role played in China’s national development strategy. My special thanks go to Prof. Yu, for his recognition and encouragement of the 2023 Asia Smart City Ranking and 2023 The Group of Twenty (G20) Smart City Ranking to be released today. We look forward to advancing the understanding of smart cities, narrowing the digital divide and ramping up efforts to promote digital governance through the release of the two reports.
Now let’s welcome Mr. Nabil Fahmy, former Foreign Minister of Egypt, to deliver the keynote speech.
Wang Dong: We are very grateful to Mr. Fahmy for presenting his understanding of smart city building from an Egyptian perspective. He has not only given positive comments on the two reports, but also pointed out the future direction. For developing countries or countries in the global South, what should be done in terms of smart city building? This is the direction of our future research.
Release Event
Wang Dong: Let’s move on to the release of the reports and welcome Dr. Chen Xi, founder of Harbor Overseas.
Wang Dong: Many thanks to Dr. Chen Xi for your marvelous explanations. We would also like to extend our special thanks to Dr. Chen, for his tremendous efforts in the past year to complete such a world-class study. We look forward to your comments and suggestions on our reports in the upcoming discussion sessions. Also, we hope that we can have more in-depth interpretations, and ramp up efforts to advance our understanding of smart cities.
Session II: International Relations and Regional Integration
Wang Dong:We will now move on to the second session - “International Relations and Regional Integration”.
First of all, I would like to introduce our panelists for this session:
H.E. Dario Mihelin, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to China;
Prof. Fu Zhiming, Vice Dean of School of Foreign Languages, Peking University;
Prof. Zha Daojiong, from International Political Economy at the School of International Studies and Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at Peking University;
Dr. Chen Xin, from New Zealand Asia Institute at the University of Auckland.
Let’s welcome the three present guests to make brief opening remarks, followed by a video sharing by Dr. Chen Xin.
Wang Dong:Thank you very much, AmbassadorMihelin. We are looking forward to your excellent insights on smart cities and regional integration from Croatian and EU perspectives in the upcoming discussion. Thank you.
Next, we have Prof. Fu.
Wang Dong:Thank you, Prof. Fu has great expertise in Arabic studies. We hope that he mayshare further insights with us someday.Please applaud to welcome Prof. Zha.
Wang Dong: Thank you Prof. Zha. Thank you for your opening remarks. Next, we have a video sharing by Dr. Chen Xin, a Research Fellow of the New Zealand Asia Institute at the University of Auckland.
Wang Dong: Dr. Chen Xin has shared her insights on the development of smart cities, and specifically mentioned the importance of digital inclusive development and the concept of people-centered digital development. Thank you very much, Dr. Chen Xin.
Q&A Session
Wang Dong: I would like to start with questions for our guests, and then give everyone here the opportunity to ask questions. How should international relations and regional integration interact in the current context of globalization? How should the effectiveness and quality of regional integration be assessed from your country and region? What opportunities and challenges do you think we are currently facing? Thank you.
Wang Dong: Thank you. Let’s welcomeProf. Fu.
Wang Dong: Thank you. We will now move on to the open discussion. Your questions are welcome. Guests here can also ask each other questions.
Phoenix Reporter: I observed that today’s topic is international relations and regional integration, and I also noticed a point that Mr. Wang mentioned last year: globalization is now manifested in regionalization. Several guests mentioned whether regions, such as the European Union and the Middle East, are becoming more secure? In the case of international decoupling or chain breaking, will the pan-securitization trend lead to distinct urban governance and development trends in each region?
Wang Dong: Thanks. I don't think I can answer better than Mr. Zha (laughs). I just mention one thing.
I strongly agree that the current phenomenon of pan-securitization or “over-securitization” poses a threat to regional integration and international relations. The crux of the matter is how to strike a balance. Assuming that there is an optimal level of securitization, problems would probably occur in case of insufficient securitization or over-securitization. For all scholars and policymakers who observe and study international relations, a key question is how to find the optimal level. It is challenging to achieve this, both at the theoretical level and at the policy level.
Wang Dong: I've been reminded that time is almost up. If you have any questions, I think you can ask me one more question. Is there any other question?
Wang Dong: Our discussion is getting more and more exciting. But unfortunately, the man holding the sign is getting impatient (laughs). We must finally conclude. I would like to ask each of the three guests to summarize in one sentence. We first have the Ambassador.
Wang Dong: I think we’ll go with Prof. Zha’s definition of “we” and let’s call this session over. Thank you all.
Wang Dong: Please allow me to take the last two minutes and give a brief overview of today’s forum.
First of all, please allow me to extend my deep gratitude to the representatives of various economies in Beijing, the leaders and experts from governmental organizations, central and state-owned enterprises, scholars and colleagues from universities and research institutes, as well as friends from all walks of life. Thank you all for coming to Peking University and contributing greatly to the success of this forum.
In the session of keynote speeches, Mr.Otorbaev, Prof. Yu Hongjun and Mr.Fahmy, from their respective perspectives, made a profound analysis of the current global changes and the significance of the ranking of smart cities and put forward their insights, which laid a good start for today’s forum.
In the session of the report release, Dr. Chen Xi presented the findings of 13 worldwide coastal and inland smart city clusters. As the world’s first comparative study of smart city clusters, these findings, I believe, will be codified to form influential academic results that reveal the development level and direction of smart cities on a global scale. As the co-publisher of the2023 Asia Smart City Rankingand2023 The Group of Twenty (G20) Smart City Ranking, I always believe that the release of the reports proves our global voice and the interpretation of academic research on smart cities, as it is almost impossible to replicate this work. The evaluation of 243 cities is made based on a massive, long-term evidence verification on tens of thousands of data sources in more than 20 languages, as well as contributions from 32 policymakers and leading experts who have weighted the indicators. Besides, my great thanks also go to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and theOrganizing Committee of the BeijingGlobal Digital Economy Conference, for their strong support, so that we can build a platform as a base for our research.
In the discussion session of “Smart Cities and Regional Integration”, Mr. Wazir, Mr. Deng Lei, Mr. Wu Zhangjian and Mr. Danny Alexander discussed in depth how the construction of smart cities boasts regional integration, as well as its current situation and prospects. In the discussion session of “International Relations and Regional Integration”, Ambassador Mihelin, Prof. Fu Zhiming, Prof. Zha Daojiong and Dr. Chen Xin comprehensively and meticulously analyzed the current intricate and changing international environment and its impact on regional integration. In the discussion session of “International Finance, Global Governance and Regional Integration”, Prof. Xiao Geng, Prof. Zhu Xufeng, Prof. Wan Zhe, Mr. Héctor Jesús Dorbecker Herrera, and Prof. Giorgio Prodi examined the current international financial change trends and global governance situation, and explored how smart cities should be deepened in the context of the reform of the international financial system and the transformation of global governance, with a view to fostering regional integration.
The above discussions are brilliant and insightful, contributing to a feast of ideas and bringing the Forum to a successful end. Though small in scale, this Forum is of high level and can be described as a forum and seminar of international standard.
Again, my biggest thanks go toBeijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the Organizing Committee of BeijingGlobal Digital Economy Conference, forrecognizing our work and giving us the opportunity to hold this Forum. My particular gratitude should be extended to my superiors Prof. Jiang Shigong,Peking University’s Social Office of Humanities and Social Sciences head,as well as Prof. Tang Shiqi,Dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University,for their hearty on-site supports. My sincere thanks also go to the co-organizers, Dr. Chen Xi of Harbor Overseas and Prof. Xiao Geng of the Hong Kong Institution for International Finance. I would like to thank all for your perseverance and joint dedication to this high-level conference. Thank you to all the guests and audiences, and all the questions and answers are truly excellent. We believe that this will be a valuable ideological wealth for Peking University, for Beijing Municipality, for China, and even for the world.
Finally, in order to fulfill its mission - “Connecting People, Understanding the World”, the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (iGCU) at Peking University will continue to stand at the forefront of the world, including smart cities, promote world-class and high-level academic exchanges and cooperation, and build a first-class global think tank.
Thank you again to all our guests and friends who visited Peking University. We look forward to meeting you all again. This Forum is over. Thank you for your attention!
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