The University of Coimbra (UC) is home to the first CASS Chinese Studies Centre in Portugal (third in Europe and eleventh in the whole world). The CASS Chinese Studies Centres are research centres created in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and academic institutions. The creation of this Centre in Coimbra was formalized on December 5th, 2018 at the National Palace of Queluz by the top leadership of both institutions, in the presence of the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and the Portuguese Prime-Minister, António Costa.
This is one more important step in the strengthening of the links between the University of Coimbra and the People’s Republic of China, one of the strategic priorities of UC. CASS-UC Centre of China Studies (as it is officially called) will be based in the Trinity College, where one can also find the newly created Sino-Lusophone Academy of the University of Coimbra, thus creating synergies towards the common goal of promoting the cooperation between China and Portugal in the areas of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences.
CASS is the largest and the most important think tank of the People’s Republic of China with high relevance in the production of studies that inform the definition of several national and regional policies of this Asian country. The document that formalizes the creation of the CASS-UC Centre of China Studies, whose facilities were formally inaugurated on December 4th, during the visit of a delegation of CASS to Coimbra, was signed by the Rector of UC, João Gabriel Silva, and the CASS President, Xie Fuzhan, within the scope of an initiative integrated in the State visit of Xi Jinping to Portugal.
On December 4, there was also a bilateral seminar on the theme “Silk Road: from Past to Future” 丝绸之路：从历史走向未来”.
UC News (in Portuguese)