BFSU establishes Silk Road Research Institute

Beijing Foreign Studies University established (BFSU) a Silk Road Research Institute on Saturday, aiming to provide intellectual support to the country's strategic plan to better connect China and the rest of the world by land and sea.

The institute, which received a million yuan ($167,000) donation from an enterprise, will built on the university's strengths to better serve the country's "economic belt along the Silk Road" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road".

Peng Long, the university president, will be the director of the institute.

"BFSU's Silk Road Research Institute will utilize the university's advantage, be a Silk Road Research Institute with BFSU's characteristic, and serve as an important intellectual think tank of the 'One Belt and One Road' strategy," Peng said, adding that the institute will create a platform for cultural communication between China and countries along the Silk Road.

President Xi Jinping said in a speech in Kazakhstan in 2013 that China and the Central Asian countries will build an "economic belt along the Silk Road" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", aiming to connect China and the rest of the world.

Liu Jianchao, an official from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that BFSU has the advantages of language training and public diplomatic researches, which are very important to solve pragmatic problems in building the "One Belt and One Road".

Chang Hsin-kang, the former president of the City University of Hong Kong, serves as the honorary director of the institute.

As an enthusiast of the Silk Road history and development, Chang said the establishment of the "One Road One Belt" will not only focus on commercial trade as before, but also involve more cultural communication, which needs universities and research centers to make contributions.

"The Silk Road is not only convenient transportation network connecting China and the rest of the world, but a bridge and platform to communicate and exchange ideas between China and the world. The New Silk Road cannot live without academia support," Chang said.

BFSU with 64 language programs is an essential center to study foreign languages and international relations.