Bridging the Belt and Road Divide: Promoting Inclusive Development through Disability Cooperation in Southeast Asia

REGIONAL SOCIAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR

About the Seminar

Since President Xi Jinping’s announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over five years ago, the idea has become an important cooperation platform and international public good that China is offering to the World. In addition to trade and investment, the BRI is expected to bring about new prospects for inclusive development and provide a historic opportunity to significantly bridge the development gap amongst Belt and Road countries. 

The inaugural Belt and Road High-level Event on Disability Cooperation was held in Beijing in September 2017 to strengthen international cooperation in disability affairs and enhance the well-being of persons with disabilities in these countries. The China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF), the organiser of the Cooperation and the national agency working on disability rights, has called for more pragmatic action to promote disability-related social security, medical rehabilitation, assistive devices deployment, public education, and para-sports exchanges, in allowing this grand initiative to benefit more persons with disabilities and enhance the cultural and people-to-people exchanges in the Belt and Road countries. 

This seminar assesses the activities and progress of Disability Cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries, and provides a discussion on the challenges and possible directions of China’s inclusive development efforts under the BRI framework.

This seminar is supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

About the Speaker

Zhang Wanhong earned his Ph.D. in Law from Wuhan University School of Law, Wuhan, where he now holds the position of Professor of Jurisprudence. He has mainly been working on legal issues related to human rights, public interest and civil society. He is the pioneer of disability rights studies and movement in China and he is also editor-in-chief of Disability Rights Studies in China. In 2008, Professor Zhang was invited to participate in the drafting of China’s first National Human Rights Action Plan 2009-2010. Recently, he was appointed as the Executive Director of Wuhan University Institute for Human Rights Studies. 

Registration

For registration, please click here. Registration closes on 22 November 2019.