On 28th-30th April, 2008, The ‘U.S.-China Project on Crisis Avoidance & Cooperation’ Conference was held at Fudan University’s Center of American Studies. More than 20 experts from universities, governments and research institutes attended the workshop, including representatives of Fudan University, Beijing University, Tongji University, National Defense University, Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission of State Council, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations from China. The participants of U.S. side are mainly from U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai, U.S. Naval War College, U.S. Department of State, Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. Institute of Peace and Brookings. Rick Larsen and Mark Kirk, members of Congress of the United States and the two chairmen of ‘Sino-U.S. workgroup’, sent a congratulatory letter to the meeting.

This conference, which is held by CAS, U.S. Institute of Peace and CICIR, is the first high dialogue to deal with the crisis between China and U.S. The meeting originates from Pro.Wu Xinbo’s project ‘The China-U.S. Crisis management’ in U.S. Institute of Peace from September 2006 to July 2007. And it is also a part of the National Key Research Institutions for Humanities and Social Sciences project ‘New Trends and New Situation of Sino-U.S. Relationship after the Cold War’ in CAS.

In the conference, scholars from China and U.S. discussed six sessions that are origins of project and key objectives, elements of Sino-U.S. Cooperation, challenges to PRC Energy Security, prospect of Sino-U.S. cooperation on the energy issue, Sino-U.S. crisis cooperation on common concerns in South and Central Asia and establishing & operationalizing crisis avoidance & cooperation principles & practices. The participants believe that this conference provides a schedule for further dialogues.