On March 28, 2018, the 5th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Nuclear Safety was held in Beijing. Nearly 200 representatives from over 20 ASEM member states including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, and Vietnam as well as from international organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency attended the seminar.

Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Foreign Ministry Wang Qun attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech in which he put forward four propositions on strengthening cooperation in nuclear energy safety between Asia and Europe. The first is to build an awareness of a community with a shared future, carry forward the concept of win-win cooperation, uphold the spirit of mutual respect and equal consultation, explore new thoughts and approaches to reinforce nuclear energy safety and jointly handle safety risks. The second is to cement infrastructure and consolidate defense line of safety. All relevant parties should enhance advantage complementarities, and make up for the deficiency in a timely manner to achieve high-standard nuclear energy safety throughout the whole chain. The third is to encourage technology innovation and push for the upgrade of the standard for the safety technology. All relevant parties should support cooperation in nuclear energy industry between Asia and Europe and foster new highlights of connectivity in the field of energy between Asia and Europe. The fourth is to adhere to extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, advance the building of an international nuclear security system featuring fairness, cooperation and win-win results as well as improve international nuclear security governance.

The seminar will have in-depth discussions centering on such topics as the new opportunities and challenges of nuclear energy safety, supervision of nuclear power, practice in the industry, capacity building and emergency response, exchange policy practice and the best approaches, and discuss countermeasures to cope with nuclear safety challenges through cooperation. The participants will also visit the 15th China International Nuclear Industry Exhibition held alongside the seminar, and visit High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor of Tsinghua University, the National Center of Excellence on Nuclear Security, the Experimental Fast Reactor of China Institute of Atomic Energy and other facilities.