The 6th China-ROK Public Diplomacy Forum was held in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, China on December 5th, 2018. It was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT), Republic of Korea (ROK), and organized by China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA) and Korea Foundation (KF). The theme of this year’s Forum is “Building full trust in support of the Next 10 years of China-ROK relations”.
CPDA Vice President Hu Zhengyue, Deputy Director-General Li Minggang of China’s MFA, Public Diplomacy Ambassador Bahk Sahng-hoon of ROK and KF President Lee Sihyung made remarks at the opening ceremony. Mr. Zhao Qizheng, Former Head of the State Council Information Office, China and Mr. Kim Han-kyu, Chairman of the 21st Century ROK-China Exchange Association, ROK, delivered key-note speeches. More than 200 guests from think-tanks, media and representatives from the cultural field as well as the youth attended the Forum from both countries.
During the Forum, academics and experts held in-depth discussions on three subjects, ie. “Political exchanges between China and ROK –Reaching consensus on strategies”, “Practical cooperation between China and ROK – Exploring common future for economic development”, and “People to People exchanges between China and ROK – Strengthening friendship among the people”. The speakers also made valuable suggestions on how to enhance cooperation between China and ROK on public diplomacy so as to further promote the bilateral relations.
A China-ROK Media and Think-tank Roundtable was held one day before the Forum was held. The Roundtable focused on how to enhance media cooperation and people to people communications between the two countries.