The Asian Universities Alliance, consisting of 15 Asian universities, was established on April 29, 2017, at an inaugural meeting attended by Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong in Beijing. It aims to enhance cooperation and communication among Asian universities, and play a role in solving regional and global issues. The alliance was proposed in March 2016 by Tsinghua University. Over 400 principals, teachers and students of the 15 founding member universities from 14 countries and regions attended.  Founding members include Tsinghua University and Peking University, IIT Bombay, National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo,  Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, South Korea Seoul National University, Chulalongkorn University of Thailand, the University of Yangon, Myanmar, University of Malaya of Malaysia, , University of Indonesia, the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, UAE University, King Saud University and Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev University.