Committee of 100 Newsletter

John S. Chen Chairman, Committee of 100

January 2010

This combined December/January issue brings you up to date on our Third Greater China Conference in Beijing in December and other related activities in China.

At the conference, we were proud to have the U.S. Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, deliver the keynote address. My special thanks to the Conference Co-Chairs for their tremendous dedication to making the event successful: Jeffrey Li, Kai-Fu Lee, and Ya-Qin Zhang. Also I extend my personal appreciation to the 28 C-100 members who came to support the conference, many traveling from the United States.

Following the conference, the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress organized a series of high-level meetings for a delegation of twenty Committee of 100 members and staff. We had a great opportunity to speak with China’s top legislator Wu Bangguo, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, and other senior Chinese leaders about the status of U.S.-China relations and the impact of President Obama’s recent visit to China.

Sino-American Ties Celebrated, Enhanced during Committee’s Third Greater China Conference in Beijing

January 2010 | By Alice Lin and Jane Leung Larson

Committee of 100 Third Greater China Conference

Active engagement between China and the U.S. as the best path to a mutually beneficial relationship was the theme animating C-100’s Third Greater China Conference. Clearly sharing this outlook were the more than 700 guests, friends, members, and supporters of the Committee of 100 who gathered at the China World Hotel in Beijing, China on December 8 and 9 to take stock of the U.S.-China relationship from financial, political, and cultural perspectives.

Three C-100 Greater China members co-chaired this long-planned event: Chairman and CEO of Innovation Works Kai-Fu Lee, President of Novartis China Jeffrey Li, and Chairman of Microsoft China, Ya-Qin Zhang. Apart from the conference and awards dinner, they also planned a mentoring session for aspiring Chinese professionals and hosted two delegations from the U.S., one composed of three distinguished journalists and another from The Marathon Club, a group of outstanding minority entrepreneurs.

C-100 Vice Chair Kai-Fu Lee with special guest NPC Vice Chairman Cheng Siwei and C-100 Chair John Chen.

Among the distinguished guests at the conference were former Mayor of Shanghai Xu Kuangdi, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Cheng Siwei, Head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office Li Haifeng, President and Chief Investment Officer of the China Investment Corporation Gao Xiqing, U.S. Embassy Acting Deputy Chief of Mission William Weinstein, Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank Curtis S. Chin, and U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

C100 Delegation Calls on Chinese Leaders in Beijing

January 2010 | By Yong Lu

Following C-100’s Third Greater China Conference in Beijing, a delegation composed of twenty Committee members led by Chairman John S. Chen held a series of meetings with senior Chinese government officials on December 10. Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and China’s top legislator, was among the Chinese leaders who met with Committee members. The meetings were covered extensively in the Chinese media.

National People’s Congress Chairman Wu Bangguo receiving the C-100 delegation at the Great Hall of the People, where the NPC meets.

At each meeting, Committee members briefed Chinese leaders on C-100’s recent efforts in advancing cultural understanding between Americans and Chinese. In particular, the delegates pointed to the Committee’s support of the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and its creation of an exhibit on the Chinese in America to be displayed in the Pavilion, as well as C-100 sponsorship of leading American journalists to visit Greater China. The delegation also exchanged information and views with the Chinese leadership regarding the current status of U.S.-China relations and how to alleviate misunderstandings and build strategic trust.

Committee Brings Three Influential American Journalists to China

January 2010 | By Yong Lu

From December 7 to 14, two of the nation’s most distinguished editors and a Pulitzer-Prize winning syndicated columnist traveled to China under the auspices of the Committee of 100. They participated in the 2009 C-100 Greater China Conference and visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. The program was led by C-100 Vice-Chair for International Programs and Chairman of Innovation Works Kai-Fu Lee, and was sponsored by C-100 member and Chairman of the Golden Eagle International Group Roger Wang.

The delegation members were Jill Abramson, News Managing Editor, The New York Times; Clarence Page, Columnist, Chicago Tribune; and John Byrne, former Executive Editor, BusinessWeek. Two of the three had never visited China before.

The delegation meets with Chinese entrepreneurs.

Through these delegations of journalists, the Committee seeks to provide an opportunity for U.S. media opinion makers to experience China firsthand, learn more about China’s development and its complexities, and share their perspectives with their peers. A previous C-100 Leadership Delegation of journalists was hosted in conjunction with the 2007 Greater China Conference, with delegates David Brooks, New York Times columnist; Charlie Cook, editor and publisher, Cook Political Report; and Juan Williams, National Public Radio correspondent and Fox News contributor.

The Committee of 100 and World Expo 2010: Monthly Progress Report

January 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

"THE CHINESE IN AMERICA—WE ARE FAMILY": COMMITTEE’S EXPO PROJECT LAUNCHES ONLINE

Anyone of Chinese descent in America may upload their photo and join the “The Chinese in America” wall at the USA Pavilion in the World Expo. “The exhibit will demonstrate America’s unique strengths as a nation: embracing diversity, offering freedom of choice and an opportunity for success for all,” said C-100 Governor Shirley Young, who is leading the Committee’s efforts to promote Chinese American participation in the World Expo.

Screenshot of the webpage.

The Committee of 100 has created this showcase so that Chinese in America can display pride in their heritage and families to the 70 million projected visitors to the World Expo in Shanghai, which opens May 1 and runs for six months. Thousands of Chinese American faces, organized by Chinese family names, will demonstrate to the world that “We are Family.”

“U.S. and Asia not Separated by the Pacific, but Bound by it”: Ambassador Jon Huntsman’s Message to Conference

January 2010 | By Alice Lin

LUNCHEON & PANEL 3: “U.S.-China: Building Mutual Strategic Trust”

In an impressive show of his linguistic expertise, U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman delivered his luncheon keynote in both Mandarin and English at C-100’s Third Greater China Conference on Dec. 9. Introduced by Ming Chen Hsu, Director of the J.T. Tai Foundation, Huntsman began by telling the story of how he, the Republican Governor of Utah, was chosen by President Obama as Ambassador to China.

Ming Chen Hsu introducing the Ambassador.	Ambassador Jon Hunstsman.

After the Financial Crisis, an Economic Paradigm Shift?

January 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

PANEL 1: “Post-Financial Crisis: How Has The World Changed?”

How has the world changed since the global financial meltdown and subsequent economic decline of the past two years? Specifically, how have the economies of China and the U.S. shifted gears? What must still change to sustain healthy economic growth and rebalance the world economy?

Panelists, from left: Zhu Min, Curtis Chin, Ed Chan, David Dollar and Ronnie Chan (click the photo to enlarge).

The Beijing conference addressed these questions on December 9 in an animated panel discussion led by Chairman of Hang Lung Properties Ronnie Chan. Representing China, though expressly noting that he was speaking as an individual, was Zhu Min, Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China. Three Americans were panelists—two government officials, David Dollar, Treasury Department Economic and Financial Emissary to China, and Curtis Chin, U.S. Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and one corporate executive, Ed Chan, President and CEO of Wal-Mart China.

2009 Greater China Conference Press Clips

January 2010 | Excerpted by Jane Leung Larson

Chinese media from CCTV and Phoenix TV to newspapers including Yangcheng Wanbao and People’s Daily reported extensively on the Committee’s Third Annual Greater China Conference in Beijing this past December. Of particular interest was the panel on how China and the U.S. were changed by the global financial crisis. A complete listing of media coverage of the Committee’s Beijing conference this past December may be found here.

Below are excerpts from two English language articles:

Martial Arts Actor Jet Li is Committee of 100 Honoree for Individual Achievement in San Francisco

January 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Since he and his family almost lost their lives to the waves of the South Asian tsunami in 2004 while vacationing in the Maldives, Jet Li’s life as one of the world’s most famous martial arts actors took an abrupt turn. Not that he’s given up movies—his recent box office hits include Fearless (2006) and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008, with Jackie Chan)—it’s that he has thrown his wealth and energies behind creating a worldwide philanthropic movement through his One Foundation (壹基金). His ambition is nothing less than to create one big family of individual donors who pool their gifts of one dollar or yuan or peso a month to “make sure that the most vulnerable members of our global family will receive the help they need.” Li has launched his foundation in his native China, working with the Red Cross Society of China, to help disaster victims and work on big issues like the environmental protection, health, and education.

C100 Chairman Chen and Members Meet China’s Ambassador to the UN

January 2010| By Jane Leung Larson

Committee Chairman John Chen met with China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Zhang Yesui, at the United Nations headquarters on December 2. Among the topics addressed were C-100's preparations for the World Expo in Shanghai, the Committee’s work on U.S.-China relations, and the advancement of Chinese Americans. Zhang was the keynote speaker for the C-100 Second Greater China Conference in 2007 in Beijing.

Ambassador Zhang has been China’s UN representative since 2008 and this January is serving as president of the Security Council, a rotating position that changes every month. Zhang was educated in the 1970s at the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and London School of Economics and in 1976 began his diplomatic career. His previous position was Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.