On 22 May 2017, NISCSS President Wu Shicun met with Mathieu Duchatel, deputy director of Asia & China Program of European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), and Alexandre Sheldon-Duplaix, research fellow with the naval section of French Defence Historical Service. The two sides exchanged views on the current and future situation in the South China Sea, and building of the 21st-century maritime silk road and the possible challenges.