On January 7, 2017, the enlarged council meeting of the National High-level Think Tank WHU Institute of International Law (hereinafter abbreviated as Institute of International Law) was held in Beijing. Wan Exiang, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, honorary director and chief expert of Institute of International Law, Han Jin, secretary of the Party committee of WHU and director of the Institute of International Law Think Tank, Chen Dongsheng, chairman of the board of Taikang Insurance Group, WHU alumni Yu Shan, director of US-China New Perspective Foundation, Shen Zhuanghai, president of WHU Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, members of the council and part members of Academic Committee of the Institute of International Law Think Tank, and all the professorial research fellows and part of the part-time experts of the Institute of International Law attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Shen Zhuanghai, president of WHU Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Wan Exiang delivered a speech at the meeting. Firstly, He reviewed the think tank construction work of the Institute of International Law in the year of 2016 and gave four suggestions. He pointed out that the advisory report submitted by the Institute of International Law needs to be based on the perspective of international law and should be carried out around the country’s fundamental policies, diplomatic maneuvers, and the central work of the country. Secondly, he stressed that the advisory report should focus on in-depth investigation and research. For without in-depth field investigation and research, it is impossible to clearly grasp the direction of the problem; if the problem is not accurate, the research cannot be carried out. He suggested that scholars should learn from foreign legislation and internationally mature systems to solve China's problems when submitting their opinions. Finally, he mentioned the shared path of the think tank advisory report. He said that the advisory report of the National High-level Think Tank is directly submitted to the central core department, and scholars should make full use of the advantages of the platform to improve the quality of the advisory report.

Looking into the new year, Wan Exiang suggested that in the future construction of think tanks, the think tank secretariat should compile the think tank reports into a book for scholars to learn. Wan Exiang asked that Institute of International Law should strive to organize more international conferences. This move will be beneficial to showcase the research results of scholars, strengthen our voices in international conferences, make China’s voice louder, and increase the influence of our think tanks.

Han Jin delivered a speech on behalf of Wuhan University. Firstly, He expressed his gratitude to the experts, scholars and alumni who have supported and helped the construction of the Institute of International Law Think Tank in the past year. Later, Han Jin emphasized that there should be a sense of urgency in the construction of the think tank in the new year. He said that the think tank already has good planning, but it is not enough. In addition, as the key research base for Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education, the Institute of International Law also undertakes a large number of scientific research and teaching tasks. Thus, there exist plenty of evaluation criteria for the Institute of International Law and the requirements on it are higher. For that reason, we should follow the spirit of the central government, the ideas of reform, and the concept of innovation to further reinforce internal construction of the think tank. Han Jin said that Wuhan University will also follow the instructions of the central government and do its best to support the construction of the think tank.

WHU alumni Yu Shan, a specially invited guest and director of US-China New Perspective Foundation, shared in her speech her years of experience in operating the foundation and working with well-known think tanks at home and abroad. She put forward several ideas on those. First of all, she expressed the importance of the think tank’s presence, and said that there is much to learn from the construction of the think tank. She believed that think tanks must show blunt power and build platforms to help more professionals in international contacts. She suggested that think tanks could play a greater role in the people-to-people contacts and they should pay attention to exchange ideas in the language of think tanks and communicate with a probing attitude. When speaking to cooperation with international think tanks, Yu Shan believed that political factors should not block the exchanges between scholars, and space is needed for scholars to calmly discuss questions. Yu Shan said that think tanks should be clear about their own positioning and pull their weight. In the end, she emphasized that the development of think tanks cannot be separated from the support of the state, which is the basis for think tanks to go deep into problem research and play a greater role.

Xiao Yongping, executive director and president of the Institute of International Law, reported to the delegates and guests on the achievements of the construction of the think tank in 2016 and its work direction in 2017. In 2016, the Institute of International Law had new improvements in policy advice, public diplomacy, public opinion guidance, international influence, talent introduction and so on. Xiao Yongping said that in 2017, the Institute of International Law will focus on three core elements of attraction, management, and influence, properly handle six major relationships of basic research and countermeasure research, scientific research assessment and think tank assessment, internal strength training and external publicity, think tank construction and logistics support, basing on China and facing the globe, and professionals and integrated talents, and plan to establish a think tank development fund to realize the sustainable development of think tank construction. On the basis of coordinating the use of HAN Depei Jurisprudence Foundation of WHU and YAO Mei-zhen Jurisprudence Foundation of WHU, the Institute of International Law will take effective measures to raise funds and set up development funds of WHU Institute of International Law to lay a solid foundation for attracting more outstanding talents and effectively building the think tank.