Response to Climate Change： China＇s Actions and Cooperation with EU

Along with the fast growth of world economy, industrialization in particular, global issues such as climate change have become common concerns of the international community. Climate diplomacy is also gradually becoming a hot topic on the international agenda. Climate change is a common challenge to the world and every country bears the responsibility to address this issue. China is highly concerned about climate change and hopes to work with EU and the rest of the world to meet this challenge.     

Vomen＇s Development and Environmental Protection

Considered as the ＂last chance for human beings to save the earth＂, the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen has directed world attention to environmental protection and energy conservation. People still remember the ＂climate refugee venue, statues＂ standing outside the conference preluding a gloomy tomorrow in silence, and the mehing polar bear ice sculpture in the city center, foretelling a tragic future with its exposed skeleton.     

New generation of leaders of the major world powers begin to operate the rudder

The period from mid-2007 to the end of 2008 is the peak time for the change of power in world major countries. Starting from the enthronement of French President Sarkozy and to the election of a new president for the United States this year, the one and a half years＇ time will witness the change of leaders in four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. A new generation of world leaders have come on stage and a fresh chapter of international politics has been opened.     

Prospects on Obama＇s Foreign Policy

During his eight years in office, President Bush waged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and found himself bogged down there. The financial tsunami and the economic recession have beset America with difficulties both at home and abroad. President Bush has become a lame-duck president in American history. More than 70% of the constituency think America has taken a wrong way, and the American people all want to have a change. Barack Obama made full use of the situation at home and is going to take up the office of presidency when America is deep in trouble.     

New Turbulence in the Middle East

Americans often say that September 11 has transformed the world, but in fact, it has primarily changed the U. S. itself. The Middle East, as well, due to a shift in U.S. policies and strategies,has gone through significant changes. This in turn has exerted substantial influence on future development of the international situation.What kind of change has taken place in the Middle East? We might find some answers from historical and realistic perspectives.     

Strengthen China-EU Cooperation and Safeguard World Peace

I. Basic situation of international security at the current stage In recent years, the international security situation has always been in a state of general stability despite turmoil in certain areas. Against the backdrop of the change of international pattern and economic globalization, most countries are striving for peace, development and cooperation and are promoting the building of a new     

Climate Change and the US Security Sector: the Securitization of Climate Change

This preliminary study traces how climate change came to be viewed as a security issue in the United States through a review of policy documents and reports prepared for and by the US security sector. The paper draws upon the ideas of constructivist schools of security studies to provide an analytical framework for understanding the meaning of the securitization process as it has occurred in the United States. It then refl ects upon the adequacy of those frameworks to interpret the securitization of climate change. In the US, new knowledge of the phenomenon of climate change was fi rst constructed in the research sector, in the fi elds of meteorology and atmospheric science. Environmental and Earth sciences then became a locus of research, and climate change fi rst entered security discourse as a topic of environmental protection. As the implications of climate change and its potential impact on water resources, food production, diseases, infrastructure, and human migration came to the attention of the security sector, this knowledge stimulated an internal discourse, where each new document functioned both as a new securitization statement and as a policy response to prior documents in a chain of discourse. Actors in this securitization process included not only “speakers” making a securitization claim (knowledge claim) and “audiences” that accept or reject a claim. Importantly, it also included actors who were instrumental in translating knowledge between research and security sectors. This brief consideration suggests that social science theories that center on practice are more robust than those that center on discourse for interpreting the securitization of climate change. Improved analytic frameworks need to better account for actors whose role is to transfer and translate knowledge from one sector to another.     

U.S. Societal Landscape: Reality and Challenges

Barack Obama became the first African American president calling for change. He is not only faced with serious challenges on the economic and financial fronts, but also has to deal with a variety of major social problems which will potentially reshape American society in the 21 st century： increasing economic inequality, complex race relations, an unsustainable healthcare burden and a weakening education system. These are issues which have existed for decades in the U.S., but now it seems that President Obama has a better opportunity to make a ＂real change＂ happen than his predecessors, because American society is going through a fundamental evolution.     

China＇s Foreign Strategy： Constantly Deepening and Broadening

China has been constantly deepening and broadening foreign strategy in accordance with the changes of the world situation. With the Fourth Plenary Session of the Seventeenth CPC Central Committee, the Eleventh Diplomatic Envoy Conference and the Central Economic Working Conference as opportunities, the CPC Central Committee has made a series of new explanations and judgements on China＇s foreign strategy in the new era. China＇s external work has also entered a new period of great development. China has made substantial progress in countering the international financial crisis, promoting global issues such as climate change, maintaining the steady development of relations with major global powers and solidifying its strategy of reliance on surrounding countries. China＇s international status and influence has scaled new heights.     

U.S. National Strategy: betweem Offensive and Integration

As the hegemonic country in the world system, U. S. national strategy is global and multi-directional. Since September 11, 2001, America has made series of adjustments in its global strategy, including adjustment in security focus and change of security means. Come what may, since America has become the superpower in the world system, its national strategy has always been between offensive and integration. In a sense, current American strategy is the combination of the two. Although different government would tilt toward one direction, none of