13796_NCUSCR_NOTES_1206 1/17/07 8:06 AM Page 1 National Committee on United States-China Relations S E Presidential Members An Interview T Candidates Meeting with National Initiative Highlights Committee Hank Director Greenberg Geraldine O Kunstadter 2 5 19 N Highlighting the 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner 4 Summer / Fall 2006 Volume 34, Number 2 13796_NCUSCR_NOTES_1206 1/17/07 8:06 AM Page 2 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Highlighting the Presidential 2 Candidates Initiative S E Chinese People’s Association for T Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). The two organizations O share the programming tasks: CPAFFC sets up all of the official N meetings and the Committee sets up supplementary meetings with National Committee friends and China-based members. The first potential presidential candidate to accept our offer was former Democratic Senator from North Carolina and 2004 vice-pres- idential nominee, John Edwards. With his busy schedule before the November 2006 midterm elections, he could only spare six days in late August. Unfortunately, just a few weeks before we were due to leave, our CPAFFC hosts had to cancel From left to right: Steve Orlins, Senator John Edwards, and Derek Chollet during a visit to the visit because of an unexpected Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. scheduling conflict. Given Senator Edwards’ extremely tight schedule, I want to use my newsletter col- us to conclude that we could he could not find another six free umn to highlight the Presidential uniquely add value in this area. consecutive days so we finally had Candidates Initiative – a new Through the Presidential to settle for a four-day trip from National Committee program. The Candidates Initiative, the National October 16 to 19. Initiative is a direct outgrowth of Committee is providing the oppor- This meant we (Senator the debate surrounding CNOOC’s tunity for potential 2008 presiden- Edwards; Derek Chollet, Senator failed acquisition of UNOCAL and tial candidates to visit China in Edwards’ long time foreign policy a reaffirmation of our belief that order to engage in direct dialogue adviser and a CSIS fellow; and I) education of our political leaders is with Chinese officials, business only had 50 hours on the ground. critical to U.S.-China relations. executives and specialists in inter- But we packed those 50 hours as The recent election of a more pro- national relations, economic devel- fully as we could. An hour after COVER PHOTO: tectionist Congress, coupled with opment and other fields. While arriving in Beijing, the Senator met National Committee the news on the same day that the U.S. relations with China consti- with C.H. Tung, former chief exec- president Stephen reserves of the People’s Bank of tute one of the most challenging utive of Hong Kong and currently Orlins (second from China exceed one trillion USD, and complex bilateral relationships, vice-chairman of the China right) is joined by make the need for education even American politicians and policy People’s Political Consultative (left to right) honoree more important. A trip that the makers often have limited opportu- Conference, who delayed his flight Muhtar Kent, PRC National Committee arranged for nities to talk directly with the Consul General to home in order meet with Edwards. New York Liu Biwei the US-China Congressional Chinese policy elite; through the From there the group went to the and honoree Working Group in January 2006 Presidential Candidates Initiative, home of National Committee William Weldon. (see my President’s Column in the we hope to bridge this gap. The Members Chris and Freda Murck, Photo by: Elsa Ruiz Spring 2006 issue of NOTES) led Chinese host organization is the CEO of APCO Asia and former 13796_NCUSCR_NOTES_1206 1/17/07 8:06 AM Page 3 curator for Asian art at the ground, the Senator was particular- but rarely with political leaders. Metropolitan Museum of Art ly interested in Victor’s discussion He painted a bleak picture of respectively, for discussion over on polling in China. China’s environmental situation dinner with other long time China- Senator John Edwards was the and the coordination between local hands and National Committee perfect person to inaugurate the and central government environ- members, including my predeces- Presidential Candidates Initiative. mental agencies and complained 3 sor, John Holden; former deputy Having never been to China, he that he had far too few workers in N chief of mission at the U.S. went with an open mind to learn his agency to tackle its enormous embassy, Bill McCahill; CNN and see first hand what China is workload. The minister of com- bureau chief Jimi FlorCurz; coun- experiencing. His ability to absorb merce laid out China’s position on O try director and chief of mission for information rapidly and ask point- the trade deficit. He explained the the World Bank, David Dollar; ed questions was remarkable. role of foreign investors in the T managing director of Shanghai Virtually every meeting quickly deficit, the transfer of the deficit AIAL Information Consulting delved beneath the surface so that from other Asian countries to E Company, Andrew Andreasen; and Senator Edwards could understand China, and the difference in how the China bureau chief for the Wall the assumptions behind the poli- the United States and China calcu- S Street Journal, Rebecca Blumenstein. cies. Every minister the Senator late the deficit. Oil and China’s With a combined time of over saw was forthright, friendly and frank. increasing reliance on imported oil 150 years of living and working in The discussion with the foreign was another important topic. China and such articulate, thought- minister ranged across all of the Our host, CPAFFC, did a terrific ful people, the discussion was out- issues in U.S.-China relations job lining up high level, high quali- standing and c6vered a broad range beginning with North Korea (the ty meetings. The sessions were all of issues including China’s econo- meeting was held in the room at substantive and Senator Edwards my, the media in China, education, the Diaoyutai next to where the six learned an enormous amount. He human rights, poverty alleviation party talks are held); moving on to left China with an infinitely clearer and Sino-American relations. Iran, Sudan, nonproliferation, view of where China is, where it is Despite having just stepped off the Taiwan, trade, energy, China’s role going and what that means for the plane, Senator Edwards was fully at the UN, and human rights; and United States. engaged and so the discussion ending with the upcoming U.S. A week after our return, the went on well past dinner. The midterm elections. The meeting National Committee and the Asia group’s insights helped prepare with the defense minister focused Society co-hosted an an event at Edwards for a full round of meet- on transparency, military-to-mili- which the Senator spoke about the ings over the next day and a half tary exchanges, a hot line between visit to China and was interviewed with the following leaders: the Chinese Ministry of Defense by 60 Minutes’ Leslie Stahl (see and the U.S. Defense Department, page 23). • Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing problems with previous arms sales This trip helped educate • Defense Minister Cao from the United States to China, Senator Edwards about China and Gangchuan and China’s defense planning. allowed him to begin to build rela- • Education Minister Zhou Ji The minister of education tionships with senior people in the • Vice Minister of the State focused on China’s efforts to equal- government of China. Whatever Environmental Protection ize education throughout the coun- his future, Senator Edwards will Agency Pan Yue try, its English language training remain an influential national polit- • Commerce Minister Bo Xilai effort, why Chinese choose to ical leader, and when China comes • Former Shanghai Mayor study engineering and math and up as an issue he will speak from Xu Kuangdi, and China’s ability to train and absorb direct experience. I • CPAFFC President Chen into the work force thousands of Haosu engineers annually. The meeting with the vice-minister of the State The second night’s dinner was Environmental Protection Agency, with several very engaging Chinese was also fascinating. He had flown scholars: Cui Liru, president of the back from Mongolia just for the China Institutes of Contemporary meeting (and returned to Mongolia International Relations; Peking that afternoon) and was thrilled to University economist, Justin Lin be speaking with a political leader Yifu; and Victor Yuan, chairman of as famous as Senator Edwards, Horizon Research Consultancy explaining that he regularly meets Group. Given his political back- with other environmental leaders 13796_NCUSCR_NOTES_1206 1/17/07 8:06 AM Page 4 In her keynote address, 40th Anniversary Ambassador Schwab picked up on the “responsible stakeholder” theme that then-Deputy Secretary Gala Dinner of State Robert B. Zoellick intro- 4 duced at our 2005 Gala. In her remarks, she pointed to some of the challenges and opportunities that China and the United States S face as joint stakeholders in the global trading system, including the E Doha Round of trade negotiations. Highlights of the evening T included letters from President George Bush and Chinese O President Hu Jintao, read by National Committee Chair, Carla N A. Hills and Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, respectively. Also of interest was the showing of an eight minute clip of an hour-long National Committee documentary that is being pro- Chair Carla Hills duced by the Voice of America (to welcomes U.S. show in China) on the last four Trade Representative decades of Sino-American relations Susan Schwab. as seen through the prism of the Photo by: Elsa Ruiz National Committee.