The Blue Book of the United Kingdom: Annual Report on Development of the United Kingdom (2021-2022) was released online and offline at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) on May 12.

The launch ceremony, hosted by BFSU, Social Sciences Academic Press (SSAP) and the Society of British Studies at the Chinese Association for European Studies (CAES), and undertaken by the British Studies Centre and the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at BFSU, brought together more than 50 scholars and students engaged in British studies, as well as representatives from media outlets in China.

The Blue Book of the United Kingdom: Annual Report on Development of the United Kingdom (2021-2022) is released at BFSU on May 12. [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

Experts and scholars share ideas on the Blue Book of the United Kingdom: Annual Report on Development of the United Kingdom (2021-2022). [Photo/bfsu.edu.cn]

The report is the ninth volume of the UK series since its first publication in 2013, said Zhang Jian, dean of the School of English and International Studies at BFSU, who added that the series has had a wide academic and social influence and is an important achievement in BFSU’s disciplinary construction of country and area studies.

Yang Qun, editor-in-chief of the SSAP, said the annual reports have been widely recognized in publishing and academic circles, and expressed his hope that the research group will continue to serve the development of country and area studies with fruitful research findings and provide intellectual support for a better understanding of the world as it deals with profound changes unseen in a century. 

In his keynote speech, Chen Xiaolyu, a professor at the School of History at Nanjing University, analyzed the current political situation in the UK from a historical perspective. 

Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and president of the CAES, highlighted the long-lasting and complex nature of the current European security dilemma, and elaborated on the changes of UK and EU’s policies towards China.

Wang Zhanpeng, vice-dean of the School of English and International Studies at BFSU and chief editor of the current report, explained the major viewpoints put forward in it and analyzed the UK’s transformations in domestic and foreign policies from 2021 to 2022 with attention to the aftermath of Brexit and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Changes in the international situation and the rise of country and area studies in China have brought new opportunities and challenges to British studies, said Zhang Jian, head of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.