CICIR delegation visits KyotoU (5 September 2019)

On 5 September, Kyoto University received a visit from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), one of the largest private research institutes in China, founded in 1980.

The visiting delegation was headed by Assistant President Zhang Li, and comprised of five researchers. The group was in Japan to attend the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), held 28­–30 August in Yokohama, and had traveled to Kyoto for meetings at the Center for African Area Studies (CAAS) and the International Strategy Office (iSO-KU).

At the first meeting, the CICIR officials sat down with CAAS' Professor Gen Yamakoshi, Associate Professor Akira Takada, and Associate Professor Shuichi Oyama, to share information on the state of African studies in China and Japan. Associate Research Professor Li Wentao, deputy director of the CICIR Institute of African Studies, explained that in China, years of government-led development assistance to African countries have resulted in greater public interest in the continent, as reflected by the rising number of non-governmental organizations operating there today. This trend, he continued, has highlighted the need for Chinese researchers to address a wider range of Africa-related topics, not just government policies but topics in the natural sciences and humanities as well. In response, Professor Yamakoshi outlined KyotoU researchers' general approach to African studies, emphasizing their historical commitment to conducting field surveys with a local perspective. He went on to report that they are currently focused on academic exchange with Korean and other East Asia-based African-studies institutes, and expressed hope that in the future there will be more Japan-China collaborations as well.

The visitors then met with iSO-KU's Vice-Director Yukari Mitsuhashi and Administrative Director Junji Yamamoto. Mr Liu Bo, director of CICIR's Department of International Exchanges, mentioned that with Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled to visit Japan next spring, CICIR is exploring new opportunities for academic exchange with Japanese research institutes. Vice-Director Mitsuhashi responded by saying that KyotoU encompasses a wide variety of area-studies departments — covering not just Africa but also various other parts of the world — the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) among them, and urging the CICIR officials to consider contacting them for possible collaborations.