In early December 2019, The Bridge Tank travelled to Beijing, China on the occasion of the launch of CGTN Think Tank. Represented by its president Joël Ruet, The Bridge Tank’s presence in China proved a valuable opportunity to exchange with various foundations and think tank headquartered in Beijing.
As a founding partner of the organisation, The Bridge Tank attended the launch of CGTN Think Tank on December 4, 2019. This opening session, hosted by CGTN’s star presenter of World Insight, Zhang Hue, was broadcast live on national television.
The inauguration ceremony included speeches by Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations, Yves Leterme, former Belgian Prime Minister, and Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International of the University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor at the Fudan University of China.
On this occasion, Joël Ruet had the pleasure of meeting once again with Luan Jianzhang, Director of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who had visited The Bridge Tank’s team in Paris, in June 2019. He also exchanged with representants of the China International Publishing Group, as well as with Yu Yunquan, President of the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies.
Following the launch, the CGTN Think Tank held its first event the very same day on the theme “Globalisation in transition: Adapting to a Changing World”. There, Joël Ruet took part in the opening session of this event, alongside Erlan Karin, political advisor to the President of Kazakhstan, Fraser Cameron, Director of the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels, and Zhai Yongping, Chief of Energy Sector Group of the Asian Development Bank.
The session was followed by a ceremony celebrating the 20 years of broadcasting of one of China’s most prominent talkshows: CGTN’s Dialogue with Yang Rui, its star presenter. As recurring guests of the show, Joël Ruet and Martin Jacques gave an interview testifying of their personal friendship with Yang Rui.
The Soong Ching Ling Foundation
Two days prior to the CGTN Think Tank launch, Joël Ruet met with the Chairman of the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, Wang Jiarui. This meeting on December 2, 2019 came a few months after the visit to Paris of a delegation representing this foundation. The Soong Ching Ling Foundation was created in 1986 by the China Welfare Institute, which had itself been founded by Rosamond Soong Ching-ling, former Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China. During their discussion, Joël Ruet highlighted the necessity for philanthropies to be opened to the people and not only to millionaires. He added that it was the mission of institutions such as the Foundation to promote this idea.
The Pangoal Institution
A day later, on December 3, Joël Ruet met with Yi Peng, Chairman of the Pangoal Institution in Beijing. This public policy think tank, working closely with Chinese companies, studies global governance and civil diplomacy in the countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative.
