U.S.-China Bi-National Commission on Trust - Building and Enhancing Relations

Trust is essential in fostering cooperation and avoiding conflict between the United States and China. This Commission considers how the United States and China can build mutual trust through enhanced communication, increasing the flexibility and confidence of policymakers as they work to build a constructive, broad-based bilateral relationship. It aims to provide suggestions on ways the two countries could reduce mistrust by broadening the engagement of various actors in each society.

The goals of the commission include:

• explain why trust-building is so critical to improving US-China relations
• identify the key components of trust-building
• define the key issues in the US-China relationship
• review and assess existing efforts to foster greater understanding and trust
• provide recommendations on what can and should be done to build trust between the two nations.

The commission is chaired by Ernest Wilson III, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and Wang Jisi, dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University. Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute serves as the executive director of the commission. The commission is comprised of senior experts from both countries. They are distinguished scholars and businesspeople. They have extensive experience in politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, and communications. Some of the commissioners have served as high-level government policymakers. Most still advise various government agencies. All have a deep knowledge of U.S.-China relations and have long been committed to strengthening ties between the two governments and peoples. They share concern over the strategic distrust that exists between the U.S. and China and believe that we can act now and over the long term to greatly improve trust so as to minimize and manage tensions between the two countries. Biographical notes for the commissioners are below.

Commission meetings were held in Washington, DC (June) and Beijing (September). The commission is meeting with top officials in both governments as well as scholars, businesspeople, media specialists, and the leaders of non-profit organizations. The commission’s report will be released in fall 2013.

Please direct questions to Clayton Dube cdube@usc.edu or 1-213-821-4382.

美中学院建立信任、增进关系两国委员会

信任是美国与中国加强合作，避免冲突的关键。该委员会研讨美中两国如何通过加强沟通增进两国决策者在建立建设性的广泛双边关系上的弹性和自信。该委员会致力于通过扩展两国社会多方人士的参与减少猜疑。

建立信任、增进关系两国委员会目标包括：

• 解释建立信任对促进美中关系至关重要的原因
• 确认建立信任的关键部分
• 确定美中关系中的关键问题
• 审查并分析既有的促进理解和信任的努力
• 为两国建立信任提供建议

该委员会由南加大安娜堡大众传播与新闻学院院长Ernest Wilson III和北京大学国际关系学院院长王缉思担任主席，由南加州大学美中学院主任杜克雷 (Clayton Dube) 担任主任，由来自两国的专家学者组成。成员们是著名的学者和商人，在政治、外交、经济、贸易和通信方面拥有充分的经验，其中的部分成员是政府高级决策者，大部分成员现仍为各类型政府机构提供建议。委员会所有的成员对美中关系问题有着深刻的见解，并长期致力于增进两国政府与人民之间的联系。他们对存在美中两国之间的战略不信任有着共同的担忧，相信我们应该从现在开始行动起来，通过长期努力增进信任，从而最大程度地将两国之间的紧张关系降低到可以掌握的程度。

委员会会议将在2012年6月与9月分别在华盛顿和北京举行。委员会将与双方政府高级官员、学者、商人、媒体专家以及非盈利机构的领导们会面。委员会报告将于2013年1月公布。

COMMISSION CO-CHAIRS

Wang Jisi

Dean, 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

Associate 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.

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.

COMMISSION STAFF

Clayton Dube, executive director
USC U.S.-China Institute

Liu Chunmei
Peking University

Sarah Myers
University of Southern California

Venus Saenradi
University of Southern California

Wang Dong
Peking University

Jay Wang (Jian)
University of Southern California