An international conference entitled The Nexus of Traditional & Non-Traditional Security Dynamics: Chinese Experiences Meet Global Challenges was held at Zhejiang University National Science Park, Hangzhou, China, on 18-20 September 2009. The Conference was hosted and organised by the Centre for Non-Traditional Security & Peaceful Development Studies (NTS-PD), Zhejiang University.

The Conference’s theme reflects recent developments in China, especially the growing awareness in both academic and policy-making circles of the importance of Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTSS). It is commonly accepted that security issues of one kind or another affect more areas of national and international life than was the case in the past – or at any rate more areas than has previously been appreciated. In the new security environment, traditional and non-traditional security threats, involving political, military, economic, cultural and other dimensions, are perceived as intertwined and overlapping. As Chinese President Hu Jintao suggested when addressing at the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly, the security of all countries has never been as closely interconnected as it is today. Thus, at the academic level it becomes necessary to view security itself in a broader perspective; more immediately, new and more cooperative approaches are required to meet increasingly diverse and complex NTS challenges in an increasingly globalised world.

The NTSS Conference brought together some twenty world-class scholars from the fields of International Relations and International Security Studies. It explored the nexus of traditional & non-traditional security dynamics, especially in terms of China’s response to NTS threats. The group analysed and compared NTS challenges faced by China and by the international community and sought to develop new approaches to these challenges.