Media Advisory: USC/Peking University report on building US-China trust to be released on April 22, 2014

What: Release of the Commission Report: Building U.S.-China Trust Through Next Generation People, Platforms & People
 

Since 2012, a commission led by Ernest J. Wilson III, dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Wang Jisi, then dean of the Peking University School for International Studies, have led a distinguished bi-national commission of scholars, former officials, and businesspeople in an investigation of how to best improve U.S.-China understanding. Such understanding is essential if we are to reduce our differences and work together to address pressing problems.

The commission's report draws on major public opinion surveys, extensive meetings and interviews with leading policy-makers, business people, and organization chiefs, and the deep experience and expertise of our distinguished commissioners. The commission found that as interaction and interdependence between the U.S. and China has grown, favorable attitudes towards the other country and trust in the other country has fallen. This is unacceptable and potentially even dangerous. The U.S.-China relationship is too important for our two peoples and for the world and the need for cooperation is too great for us to let suspicion and distrust to harden. At present, leaders and the media tend to focus almost exclusively on what separates the U.S. and China, paying insufficient attention to the many ways people in the two countries work together every day to deepen understanding and resolve shared problems. We need to act now to strengthen those effective collaborations and make them better known and we need to create new programs which utilize new technologies and involve a greater array of people. The report offers principles to guide such efforts and includes examples of effective programs.

The report presentations will also introduce a new website, US-China Exchange, which offers a unique database of past and present exchange programs and will be the go-to reference for all those interested in U.S.-China affairs and, especially, for those eager to link up with standard-bearers in U.S.-China exchanges and to learn from the best practices of others.

When: Los Angeles (USC), Tuesday, April 22, 4 - 5:30 pm; Washington, DC (Wilson Center), Thursday, April 24, 3:30-5 pm; San Francisco (Four Seasons Hotel), Saturday, April 26, 10:15-11:30 am

The Los Angeles and Washington, DC events below are free and open to the public, though reservations are suggested. The San Francisco event is part of the Committee of 100 Annual Conference. Please go to the event website for additional details on each event.

Media Inquiries: Please contact Clayton Dube, executive director of the USC U.S.-China Institute at 213-821-4382 or cdube@usc.edu.

The report is embargoed until 4 pm, April 22. Media organizations may request advance copies (click here).

Click here to watch the presentations.

Tuesday, April 22, 4 - 5:30 pm (presentation and discussion); 5:30-6:30 pm (reception)
University of Southern California Davidson Conference Center
3415 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0871 (213) 740-5956

USC U.S.-China Institute Executive Director Clayton Dube will chair, Commission Co-chair Ernest Wilson (Dean USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism), Commissioners Jia Qingguo (Dean, Peking University School for International Studies) and Robert Liu (Chair, Tireco and Board Member, Pacific Council on International Policy) will speak. Write to uschina@usc.edu to rsvp.
http://china.usc.edu/ShowEvent.aspx?EventID=4958

Thursday, April 24, 3:30-5 pm (presentation and discussion); 5- 6 pm (reception)
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004 (202) 691-4000

The event is hosted by the Kissinger Institute on China and the U.S. Institute Director Robert Daly and USC's Clayton Dube will moderate the event. Deans Wilson and Jia will speak, along with Commissioner Susan Shirk (former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific) and Ambassador Stapleton Roy.
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/building-us-china-trust-through-next-generation-people-platform-programs-0

Saturday, April 26, 10:15-11:30 am
Committee of 100 23rd Annual Conference
Four Seasons Hotel
757 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94103 212-371-6565 (C-100 contact)

Panel Discussion: Building U.S.-China Strategic Trust Speakers: Jia Qingguo (dean, PKU School for International Studies), David Lampton (Johns Hopkins University), Eric X. Li (Chengwei Capital), and Cheng Li (director, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution)
http://committee100.org/san-francisco-2014/speakers/
 

COMMISSION CO-CHAIRS

Wang Jisi
Dean Emeritus, School of International Studies, Peking University

Professor Wang also heads PKU's Center for International and Strategic Studies and is a member of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Advisory Committee. He has been president of the Chinese Association for American Studies since 2001. After a decade working in the Chinese countryside, Wang entered PKU and earned a master's degree. He taught at PKU from 1983 to 1991 when he became director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a position he held until returning to PKU in 2005. He also served as the director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies at the Communist Party's Central Party School from 2001 to 2009. Wang has published widely and serves on the editorial board of a number of journals. He has frequently been a visiting fellow or professor at a number of overseas institutions including Oxford, Berkeley, Michigan, Claremont McKenna College, and Princeton.

Ernest J. Wilson III
Dean, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California

Professor Wilson holds the Walter Annenberg Chair in Communication. He's a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a board member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and of National Academies' Computer Science and Telecommunications. He was a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board from 2000 to 2010 and chaired the board 2009-2010. Focusing on the intersection between communication and public policy, Wilson has been a consultant for the World Bank and United Nations. Wilson has also served on the White House National Security Council and as policy and planning director at the U.S. Information Agency. He has published widely on topics including governing global electronic networks and the politics of internet diffusion. Wilson co-edits the MIT Press series The Information Revolution and Global Politics. In addition to USC, Wilson has taught at Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. He advised on President Barack Obama's transition team on matters of communication technology and public diplomacy.

COMMISSION MEMBERS

Bai Chong'en
Associate Dean, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University

Professor Bai joined Tsinghua's faculty in 2004 and now holds the Mansfield Freeman Chair. He chairs Tsinghua's economics department and is director of the National Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is also a member of the Chinese Economists 50 Forum, and was a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. He earned doctorates in mathematics and economics from UC San Diego and Harvard, respectively, and previously taught at Boston College and the University of Hong Kong. Bai's research interests include economic institutions, public economics, corporate governance, development and transition economics. He has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Comparative Economics and World Bank Economic Review. His books include Technology and the New Economy.

David I. Fisher
Chairman, Capital Group International

Mr. Fisher joined the Capital Group in 1969 and served as research director for ten years. He has overseen the firm's international investments since 1982. Previously he was an officer of Smith Barney & Co. and a marketing executive with General Electric Company. Educated at Berkeley and Missouri, Fisher's public service has included service as a trustee of the J. Paul Getty Trust. He currently serves on the boards of Alternative Living for the Aging, the Lowe Institute, Harvard Westlake School, and the UCLA School of Public Affairs and is an advisor to the International Monetary Fund's Retirement Plan and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Fisher is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Jia Qingguo
Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University

Professor Jia took his doctorate at Cornell University. In addition to PKU, he has taught at Vermont, UC San Diego, Sydney, and Vienna. He's also been a fellow at the Brookings Institution. His book Unmaterialized Rapproachement: Sino-American Relations During the Early Phase of Cold War is just one of many widely read publications on U.S.-China ties and on mainland-Taiwan affairs. Jia serves on the editorial board of numerous international journals and is a member of the State Council's Academic Degree Review Board. His government service includes membership in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Standing Committee and its Foreign Affairs Committee. Jia is a member of the China Democratic League's Standing Committee.

Robert W. Liu
Founder and Chairman, Tireco, Inc.

Born in Hunan, Mr. Liu earned degrees in Taiwan and Utah. He founded and built Tireco into one of North America's largest importers and private brand marketers of tires and tire-related products from Asia. Liu and his family endowed the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at Notre Dame University. It honors his father, Liu Fang-wu, a Chinese general who led forces in the rescue of 7,500 British and American soldiers held captive by Japanese forces in Burma. Liu serves on the board of the Pacific Council on International Policy and has been on the board of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. In 2008, he was one of a select few to represent North American at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Orville Schell
Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society

Professor Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations. He was previously dean of the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Schell studied at Harvard, Berkeley, and National Taiwan University. He worked for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia and worked as a journalist in Indochina. He is the author of fourteen books, nine of the about China, and is a frequent contributor to major magazines and newspapers. Schell is a fellow at Columbia and USC and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He's received a number of prizes and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Overseas Press Club Award, and the Harvard-Stanford Shorenstein Prize in Asian Journalism.

Susan Shirk
Director, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation

Professor Shirk holds the Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UC San Diego. She chairs the School's 21st Century China Program. From 1997 to 2000, Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of States for East Asia and the Pacific. She established the Northeast Cooperation Dialogue in 1993. She continues to lead this Track II forum. Shirk is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been a board member of the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations. She's the author of numerous works. China: Fragile Superpower is among her best known books. She recently contributed to and edited Changing Media, Changing China.

Qian Yingyi
Dean, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University

Professor Qian holds degrees from Tsinghua, Yale, Columbia, and Harvard. He taught at Stanford, Maryland, and Berkeley before becoming dean at Tsinghua in 2006. His research focuses on comparative and institutional economics, with particular emphasis on the economics of transition. He has published widely and serves on a number of academic boards, including the China Center of International Economic Exchanges (where he is executive vice chairman), the International Economic Association, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and the Association of Asia-Pacific Business Schools. Qian also serves as a policy advisor on the State Council's Health Care Reform Advisory Committee. He is a member of the People's Bank of China's Monetary Policy Committee.

Wang Min
Special Research Fellow, Peking University

Dr. Wang is a senior economist in one government consultative body and has participated in many important research projects regarding China's development policies and reforms. She was one of the experts who supported the transformation of China's economic development model as well as its economic system at a very early stage. She has been involved in the writing of some reports on China's national economic developments and her writings have been quite influential. Her research fields are not confined to macroeconomic policies but also cover international relations, especially US-China relations. Dr. Wang holds that more work needs to be done to explore the new thinking in US-China strategic relations and to foster and forge new foundations for US-China economic and trade cooperation.

COMMISSION ADVISORS

Ding Jian (James)
Managing Director, GSR Ventures and Co-Chair, AsiaInfo-Linkage Holdings, Inc.

Mr. Ding heads GSR Venture, an early stage venture fund focusing on technology, media and telecom investment in China. He earned information science and business degrees and certificates at PKU, UC Los Angeles, and Berkeley. Ding co-founded the Nasdaq-listed AsiaInfo Holdings in 1993 and has at various times been its chief technology officer and its chief executive officer. Ding has been a member of the board of NetQin Mobile (a NYSE-listed mobile internet security and productivity company) and Baidu (China's leading search engine, a Nasdaq-listed company).

Deng Feng
Founding Managing Director, Northern Light Venture Capital

Mr. Deng co-founded NLVC in 2005. Prior to NLVC, he served as vice president of corporate strategy at Juniper Networks. He co-founded of NetScreen Technologies, which went public on NASDAQ and was later acquired by Juniper Networks in 2004 for US$4.2 billion. Deng was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 and CRN Innovator of the Year in 2003. The holder of numerous patents, Deng holds degrees from Tsinghua, USC, and the Wharton School at Pennsylvania. He serves on the board of the Tsinghua University Foundation.

Ming Hsieh
Chairman and CEO, Fulgent Therapeutics

Mr. Hsieh has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fulgent Therapeutics Inc., a cancer drug research and development company, since September 2012. From October 2010 to June 2012, he was President of 3M Cogent, Inc., a provider of global biometric identification solutions, following the acquisition of Cogent, Inc. by 3M Company in 2010. Prior to the acquisition, Hsieh served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cogent since founding Cogent in 1990. Hsieh earned engineering degrees at USC, has been a generous supporter of the university, and serves on its board of trustees. He is also a member of the Committee of 100 board of directors.

Dominic Ng
Chairman and CEO, East West Bancorp

Mr. Ng heads one of the largest independent commercial banks headquartered in California. It has over $21 Billion in assets and more than 130 locations in the U.S. and China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Ng has been named one of Los Angeles's 100 most influential people. He has headed the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and has served the community through his work with schools, museums and civic groups. He is president of the Committee of 100, a group of influential Chinese Americans which aims to encourage constructive relations between the peoples of the U.S. and China and to promote the full participation of Chinese Americans in all fields of American life.

Tang Xiaodan
Chairman and President, Silversun Group

Mr. Tang founded Silversun in 1996. It is a conglomerate with diverse holdings in real estate, energy and mining resource, financial investment, media, and health management. Silversun believes "Heaven rewards the diligent" and is committed to being a responsible member of society. Tang holds bachelor and master's degrees from Jilin University. He served in Beijing's municipal government and later became a manager at Beijing Industrial Group, a large state-owned enterprise. Tang has been vice president of the China Wisdom Engineering Association. He is a permanent member of the China City Investment Club.

The U.S.-China Bi-National Commission on Enhanced Relations and Trust Building (BNC) was formed to examine the sources of mistrust between the two governments and peoples and to develop approaches to foster greater U.S.-China trust. Trust is essential for the two nations to work collaboratively to address shared challenges. Deliberate and sustained efforts at trust-building will enhance the capacity of the two nations to cooperate more fully and manage differences more effectively.

Lead by Ernest Wilson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Wang Jisi, director of the Institute for International and Strategic Studies (and dean emeritus of the School of International of International Studies) at Peking University, the Bi-National Commission is comprised of senior experts from both countries.

In June 2012 in Washington and in September 2012 in Beijing, the BNC held extensive talks with prominent officials in the two governments and business communities, as well as meeting with academics, civic organization representatives and journalists. These talks explored the sources of mistrust between the U.S. and China, what was being done to build trust, and what should be done to strengthen the relationship. Over the past two years, the BNC has carried out additional research into popular attitudes and the range of existing exchanges between the U.S. and China. USC hosted a conference focusing on American and Chinese perceptions in November 2013. Some of this work is summarized in this report and much more will soon be available via the BNC website. The BNC will host an Annenberg Sunnylands II meeting in 2014 to bring together leaders from business, academia, the media, and civic sectors to move forward the Next Generation effort to engage young people and others too often left out of discussions of U.S.-China ties, to employ new technological platforms to foster more regular and effective collaboration, and to create programs which have a deeper impact and engage more people.

The BNC is an independent entity. Funding for it has come from the Committee of 100, a U.S. civic organization, and from individual donors. At the same time, the BNC has been encouraged by officials in both the U.S. and China to find ways to address the trust gap that hampers U.S.-China relations.

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Founded with generous support from Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg, ASCJ fosters multidisciplinary study of communication and journalism, routinely linking researchers and practitioners in the entertainment, media and technology industries. ASCJ’s more than 200 faculty members work with over 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students. The U.S.-China Institute and Center on Public Diplomacy are among its eighteen research centers and programs.

The PKU School for International Studies
SIS is the oldest such school in China and is China’s leading research and teaching program focusing on international affairs. SIS has three departments, three institutes, and more than twenty research centers, including the Center for International and Strategic Studies and the American Studies Center. The more than fifty faculty members train over 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students, including many from outside China.