Experts in Asian and African studies at St Petersburg University at the Eastern Economic Forum

Professor Vladimir Kolotov delivered the report "Modernised stratagem against French colonialism in Vietnam in the mid-20th century" at the session "Neo-colonialism and the problems of decolonisation of culture and science in the countries of the East", held on the starting day of the Eastern Economic Forum 2023.

According to Vladimir Kolotov, even in the feudal period, Vietnam was forced to develop its own doctrine of strategy in order to confront such a powerful enemy as China. The speaker also shared his experience of translating Ho Chi Minh’s book "Sun Tzu’s art of war". The source text, i.e. Sun Tzu’s treatise "The art of war", written in the 6th century BC, underpins the Vietnamese leader’s ideas for the fight against colonialism in the 20th century. ‘The basic laws of war are not the laws that people agree on today, but laws that are objective in nature. As Sun Tzu wrote: "Those who follow the laws of war win. Those who violate them suffer defeat". ‘Ho Chi Minh not only followed these laws himself, but taught them to the top of the Vietnamese army, soldiers who just yesterday had been ordinary peasants, and many of them were even illiterate.’

Vladimir Kolotov discussed how the ancient treatise was adapted to the realities of the last century and how the Vietnamese liberation troops fought against the French corps. As a result, the latter capitulated and the first socialist state in Southeast Asia was therefore created.

The session "New meanings of oriental studies: employer demands, business education, and national interests" was held as part of the Forum’s business programme. The session was opened by Professor Aleksandr Storozhuk, Head of the Department of Chinese Philology at St Petersburg University. He outlined the main topics and vectors of the discussion during the session.

In his opinion, the focus of future specialists on practice, which is widely discussed in the scientific and pedagogical community of experts in Asian and African studies, is the right vector to follow. Yet this should not mean focusing on studying only the language and ignoring the basic disciplines of classical Asian and African studies. ‘Studying only the Chinese language and gaining no knowledge in the country, i.e. culture, history and philosophy, may seem like an attractive solution to pressing problems. Yet it is not a solution for practical use in professional activities,’ said Aleksandr Storozhuk. ‘The entire population of our country speaks Russian, but not everyone is an expert on Russia. Not all of the one and a half billion Chinese can speak competently about their country.’

The 8th Eastern Economic Forum was held in Vladivostok on 10 to 13 September 2023. The main theme of this year’s Forum is "The path to partnership, peace, and prosperity".

According to the expert, this tendency is characteristic of ‘newcomers’ in Asian and African studies. ‘Preparing real specialists is always the result of the work of a well-established scientific and pedagogical school,’ Aleksandr Storozhuk said. This is not the case for the recently established centres for preparing experts in the Asian and African studies. As a result, their graduates receive certificates, but not deep knowledge. It is therefore more important to pay attention not to the number of centres in Asian and African studies, but to their connection with the schools that have a high reputation and established academic traditions, said Aleksandr Storozhuk.

The second point that Aleksandr Storozhuk drew attention to was the need to develop and implement an educational standard for preparing experts in Asian and African studies. ‘Inextricably linked to this process should be the preparation of a competent professional community willing to act as arbiters and assess the level of training of experts in Asian and African studies,’ he concluded.