On the afternoon of December 15, 2023, the Lecture on Eurasia Studies of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University, "The 'Second Middle Ground' and the 1964 Sino-German Berne Talks", was held online via the Tencent Conference Platform. The speaker of this lecture is Ge Jun, associate professor of the Academy of History and Documentation of Socialism, East China Normal University. The lecture was attended by young researchers from the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS) of Tsinghua University, doctoral students, and teachers and students from Minzu University of China, East China Normal University, and the University of Hong Kong.
First, Associate Professor Ge Jun introduced the historical background of the 1964 talks between China and West Germany in Berne and the current status of domestic and international research, emphasizing the methods and paths of historical research led by the awareness of problems. Next, Mr. Ge showed and analyzed line by line the original archival texts of telegrams, conversations, and memos between China and West Germany, between West Germany and the United States, and within the West German government, vividly presenting the complexity and specificity of the Berne talks. Lastly, Mr. Ge linked the whole negotiation process with the theory of the "second middle ground", elevating the history to the theoretical level, and through the comparison between the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the Berlin Clause, he discussed the issue of the "crucial" criterion of China's diplomacy in the 1960s, breaking down the "crucial" criterion of China's diplomacy and the "crucial" criterion of China's diplomacy. Through the comparison between the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the Berlin Clause, he discussed the issue of the "vital importance" of China's diplomacy in the 1960s, which breaks the judgment of "national interest" as a constant criterion in the inherent thinking and profoundly demonstrates the uniqueness of the research on the history of the Cold War.
In the discussion session, the lecturer responded to the questions raised by the online participants, such as "the significance of the research methodology of Cold War history for the study of regional country studies", "East Germany's reaction to China's trade contacts with West Germany in the Berne Talks", and "the experience of reading the archives, and how it was used by the Chinese government". He responded to and exchanged views on issues such as "Experiences, insights and considerations in reading archives".
Ge Jun, Ph.D. in History, was invited to visit the Institute of East Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. He is currently an associate professor at the Academy of History and Documentation of Socialism, East China Normal University. He is mainly involved in teaching and research work related to 20th-century world history, Cold War international history, and German history. His main research fields are Cold War international history, contemporary German history, and the history of Sino-German relations. His research has been published in major journals such as CPC History Studies and Shilin.
Contributed by: Eurasia Research Group
Proofreader: Eurasia Research Group
