On January 22, Wuhan University China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies（CIBOS）held the academic salon, “New Trends in the Research on Disputes of the Diaoyu islands”. Prof. Zhu Jianrong from Japan’s Toyo Gakuen University was invited to host the salon. Faculties and students from CIBOS and Institute for International Studies attended this activity. Prof. Zhu went to Japan in 1986, he has been doing researches on China’s contemporary politics, relations between China and Japan, and relations among East Asian countries. Combining abundant historical archives with his own experience of research, Prof. Zhu introduced the new trends in the research on the disputes of the Diaoyu islands.

（Prof. Zhu Jianrong）

Prof. Zhu emphasized that Japan devotes special attention to the publicity on the Diaoyu island disputes, for example, the website of Japanese Embassy has a Diaoyu island-themed column. This kind of publicity seems to be gentle, but impose paradoxical influence on general readers who don’t know the facts, especially those in the US and Europe. In response to these decisive acts, Prof. Zhu suggested that we should enhance researches on international law and find more ways to speak with Japan and the international community. Meanwhile, we should examine carefully the historical archives. In adition, Prof.Zhu suggested that exploring a method to collaborate with Japanese scholars could elevate the international influence of the research.

(Rewritten by Wan Xiaowei)

(Edited by Fu Shanshan)