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August 15-23, Beijing and Shanghai The Foundation sponsored a Congressional staff delegation trip to China as part of its Policy-Makers Seminar and Trip program. The program provided a select group of twenty Congressional office and committee staff members with eight seminar sessions on U.S.-China relations from February to July. During the Congressional recess, the participants traveled to China for meaningful interactive interviews with their Chinese counter-parts. Trip The China International Cultural Exchange Center served as the local host to a bipartisan delegation of 6 Policy-Makers members from both the House and Senate. While in Beijing the group received a briefing from the U.S. Embassy and met with several Chinese officials, including the Director-Generals of the Department of North American & Oceanic Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of International Economic & Trade Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation; the Deputy Director of the Institute of American Studies in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; the Deputy Secretary-General of the China Society for Human Rights Studies; and the Director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. They were also the guests of honor at a banquet thrown by the host organization and a breakfast sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. In between meetings the group had an opportunity to visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, some of China's most important landmarks. While in Shanghai the group exchanged views with the Deputy Director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, toured a factory owned by Cargill, Inc. on the outskirts of the city, and visited Zhou Village and the Oriental Pearl Tower media facility. Seminar Series The seminar series focused on the most crucial political, economic and security issues involving relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China in 1999 and into the next millennium, attracting a genuinely balanced and truly outstanding group of scholars and practitioners as speakers. The program Coordinator, William R. Johnson, kicked-off the series in February with a presentation on China's past and present, discussing the political and intellectual issues, trends, values and developments of 19th & 20th century China that are relevant to contemporary analysis with the participants. In March, Carol Lee Hamrin of the State Department and China scholar Anne Thurston discussed China's evolving society in the context of political reform and change. The following week, H. Lyman Miller of SAIS and Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute examined political and population issues and discussed their impact on bilateral relations with the group. In April Nicholas Lardy of the Brookings Institution and Robert Kapp of the U.S.-China Business Council examined China's bid for WTO membership and U.S. options. Later that month Sandra Kristoff of New York Life International and James Mulvenon of RAND looked at trade and technology transfer issues in the wake of espionage allegations and export control legislation. In June, David Shambaugh of the Elliott School of International Affairs analyzed China's current and future military capabilities in light of the Cox Committee report findings. Two weeks later former Ambassadors Arthur Hummel, Jr. and James Lilley addressed the complexities of U.S. relations with China and Taiwan. At the final session in July, Harry Harding, Dean of the Elliott School, conducted a capstone session to prepare the participants for their seven-day trip to China in August. The series was designed and organized by Professor William R. Johnson, formerly the Assistant Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University. Funding for the program has been graciously provided by the Houghton Freeman Foundation. |