China-ASEAN Research Institute

Establishment

As the gateway between China and ASEAN countries, Guangxi is not only the long-term host of the China-ASEAN Expo, an important platform for China's economic diplomacy, but also the driving force facilitating the construction of regional cooperation mechanisms such as the Sino-Vietnam "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" Plan and the Greater Mekong Basin Subregion Economic Co-operation Project, making it a critical strategic area for China's opening-up policy. In 2005, ratified by the CPC Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the People's Government of Guangxi, Guangxi University and Guangxi International Expo Affairs Bureau jointly established the China-ASEAN Research Institute based on the former Southeast Asian Studies Center of Guangxi University (estab- lished in 1995). The Institute focuses on the studies of China-ASEAN relations,  and the economic, legal, cultural and ethnic issues of Southeast Asian countries.

Development

In 2012, in order to adapt to the development and changes of China-ASEAN relations, the Institute, with the aim of further refining research fields and strengthening its research depth, restructured its organization and set up more sub-institutes which include 10 research institutions focusing on the studies of 10 ASEAN member countries (Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Ma- laysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia), and 10 institutions respectively specializing in Maritime Silk Road Research, the  Lan-Cang-Mekong River Economic Belt Research, China-ASEAN Industry Development and Ecological Environment Research, China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park Research, China-ASEAN Strategic Studies, China-ASEAN Fiscal and Financial Policy Research, International Relations Studies, Ethnic Cultures (Luoyue culture) Research, Legal Relationship Studies and Sino-Vietnamese Economics Research. By establishing the Editorial Department of the China-ASEAN Studies Journal, the Institute takes a leading role in building the China-ASEAN University Think-Tank Network, and strengthens the infrastructure construction for research. The Institute regularly publishes the China-ASEAN Studies (quarterly journal), Annual Report on the Development of China-ASEAN Cooperation, Annual Report on China-ASEAN Country Development, and some aperiodic research reports.

Professional Team

For  years,  the Institute has recruited excellent researchers from universities and research institutions at home and abroad in various ways, such as Distinguished Expert Program, to build an interdisciplinary research team. After years of development, the Institute has become one of the organizations in China with the largest research team concentrating on ASEAN studies. Currently there are 49 full-time researchers, 27 part-time researchers at GXU, 46 part-time researchers outside GXU, and 9 international cooperative researchers. The full-time and part-time researchers at GXU include 57 PhDs, 25 professors, 3 researchers, 16 associate professors,  4 associate researchers and 28 members with medium professional titles. The Institute boasts 1 leading figure of the Ten Thousand Talent Program, 1 National Outstanding Young-and-Middle-Aged Expert for Significant Contributions, 3 second-level candidates for the national New Century Talents Project, 2 National Cultural Masters, 2 Outstanding Talents in the New Century awarded by the Ministry of Education, 2 Bagui Scholars, 1 candidate for Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 second level candidates for the New Century Hundred Thousand Talents Project of Guangxi, 2 experts enjoying special government allowances, 4 receivers of the title of Hundred Young-and-Middle-Aged Academic Leaders from Universities in Guangxi, and 3 Excellent Talents from Universities in Guangxi. Over the years, the researchers have implemented a number of key projects of national, ministerial and provincial levels with fruitful achievements in ASEAN research. These research findings have strengthened the important role of the Institute as a think-tank and a consultant, providing decision-making consultations for departments concerned in China in the field of foreign cooperation, especially in China-ASEAN cooperation. The Institute was listed as one of the Outstanding Belt and Road Think Tanks, and was approved as a strategic research base of the Ministry of Education. The China-ASEAN Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Development, with China-ASEAN Research  Institute as its core organization, was ratified as the China-ASEAN Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Development Co-constructed by the Province and the Ministry.

The Institute, following the development strategy of building an interdisciplinary, cross regional, cross-national and open research platform, will integrate domestic and international research resources and take full advantage of the important platform of the Innovation Center co-constructed by the Province and the Ministry to build a Strategic Research Base of the Ministry of Education. It will innovate the development mechanism of its research team, and integrate various disciplines including international relations, politics, history, economics, law, ethnology, environmental science and the like to conduct researches on the issues of China-ASEAN relations, China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation and regional economic integration, China-ASEAN industrial cooperation, resource utilization, and ecological protection. China-ASEAN Regional Development, a newly set-up innovation sub-discipline under Applied Economics, will take the opportunity of the construction of doctoral program and master's program, focusing on the researches pertinent to China-ASEAN relations and regional delopment, to develop an integral research system featured with multidisciplinary interaction, promoting the perspectiveness, fundamentality and supportability of the theoretical researches conducted by the Institute's research team.