Committee of 100 Newsletter

Annual Conference to Address Cross-Strait Relations, Trade, Education and More

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

The Committee of 100 19th Annual Conference convenes in April during a time in Sino-American relations which many describe as contentious, across fronts from trade to climate change to cyberspace. Yet engagement continues, especially in fields like education and in cross-Strait relations. An agenda that confronts the realities of U.S.-China relations as well as examines the concerns of Asian American will feature speakers directly involved in these issues, some of them at the highest level. Following is a brief preview of an event that you won’t want to miss.

Visit the conference website for the complete agenda.

Celebration of achievement is the theme of the Gala Awards Dinner on April 8 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, to be emceed by Emmy Award winning ABC7 news anchor Alan Wang. The C-100 Excellence Award will be presented to six people, three of whom are Chinese American Nobel Prize winners, all in Physics, introduced in previous Committee Bridges issues: Charles K. Kao, Daniel C. Tsui, and Chen Ning Yang (see Conference Coverage in January and February).

Leadership Development Forum Offers C100 Career Coaching to Mid to Senior Level Professionals at San Francisco Annual Conference

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Mid- and senior-level professionals with at least six years of experience who seek advice on career advancement are invited to participate in the Committee of 100 Leadership Development Forum on April 10 in conjunction with the C-100 Annual Conference in San Francisco. Committee members—all leaders in business, high tech or government—will mentor small groups of five or six mentees in a roundtable setting. Mentees will be matched to mentors according to their career interests.

Annual Conference Co-Chair Lawrence Low, Partner, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said, “Studies show that Asian Americans do not have a hard time getting into entry level positions, but encounter problems moving from mid-senior level to executive positions. Our hope is that our members will be able to provide insights and help these professionals develop strategies on how to move into upper management positions.”

Lawrence Low, Partner, Orrick	Steve Westly, Managing Partner of The Westly Group	Ken Xie, Founder, President and CEO of Fortinet

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

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Chinese American Faces Multiply on USA Pavilion’s "Chinese in America" Wall as Community Groups Come on Board

More than 43 community and national organizations on the East Coast and in California have joined as partners with the Committee of 100 to support the "Chinese in America" photo wall at the USA Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. Also prompting thousands to upload their photos at http://www.jointhewall.org/ have been viral YouTube videos about the Expo exhibit, with both celebrities like Lisa Ling (above) and amateur actors getting into the act of promoting the Committee’s Join the Wall campaign. And, it’s not too late to join the wall!

Fresh News: Press Clips and Links for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo

March 2010| By Jane Leung Larson

"U.S. gets in Gear for Expo 2010"
By Barbara Demick
Los Angeles Times | March 4, 2010

Averting a diplomatic disaster, the United States says its trouble-prone pavilion at Expo 2010 should be ready for the opening May 1 of the international fair here.

Jose H. Villarreal, a San Antonio lawyer tapped last summer by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to right the troubled project, said Wednesday that all but $8 million of the $61 million needed for the pavilion has now been raised from 34 corporate sponsors.

"It would have been unimaginable for the United States to be just about the only country on Earth not to be represented in a global event of this size," said Villarreal, who holds the title of U.S. commissioner general for the expo that is expected to draw 70 million visitors from May to October.

U.S. law limits the use of public money for world fairs, and as a result the nation skipped the 2000 expo in Hanover, Germany, and had only a modest presence at Aichi, Japan, in 2005.

New Members: Ed Chan, Tim Chen, Ta-Lin Hsu, Philip Ma, Ming Tsai, Cher Wang, William Wang, Andrea Wong, and Ken Xie

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Nine new members joined the Committee in early 2010, bringing membership to 156. They include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, power players in Greater China trade, technology, and investment, a celebrity chef, and a media executive.

Hong Kong-born and Shenzhen-based Ed Chan is President and CEO of Wal-Mart China. China is Wal-Mart’s most important supplier and the company’s most promising site for retail expansion, Chan’s responsibility. Wal-Mart China operates over 260 retail stores in 90 Chinese cities, and there is much room to grow as China’s middle class expands and becomes more affluent. Wal-Mart China under Chan’s guidance has won such awards as Business Week’s Greener China Business Award, given for Wal-Mart’s 144 stores that are “adopting green-building principles and technologies developed in the U.S. The new eco-stores use 40% less energy than the older ones, and retrofits of the existing sites should be able to reduce energy use by about one-third by 2010.” Chan came to Wal-Mart in 2006 from Dairy Farm Group, where he was Regional Director for North Asia and CEO of the Wellcome Supermarket Division in Taiwan. Wal-Mart has become a Pavilion Partner for the USA Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, and has overseen a variety of community social responsibility activities at Wal-Mart stores, including programs on food safety and involving employees in community service.

Taiwan, Hong Kong Officials Host Committee in Washington, New York

March 2010| By Jane Leung Larson

Twin Oaks luncheon, from left: John L. Fugh, June Fugh, Irving Kaufman, Anna Chennault, Representative Jason Yuan, Mrs. Jason Yuan, Wang Chi, Ernestine Wang, and Angie Tang (click the photo to enlarge).

Taiwan’s top representative in the United States, Jason Yuan, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECRO), hosted a luncheon on February 24 with Committee members in Washington, D.C. at the historic Twin Oaks Estate. Former Committee of 100 Chairman John L. Fugh and his wife, June were joined by members Anna Chennault and Chi Wang and their spouses. C-100 Executive Director Angie Tang and TECRO’s Deputy Chief of Mission Jacob Chang, Deputy Political Director C.C. Chang, and Political Officer Kyle Jin also were present.

C100 Regional Activities

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Southern California Committee members met with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) Executive Director Eddie Wong and Board Chair Buck Gee on February 22 at the Panda Restaurant Group Headquarters. They spoke about recent work to preserve Angel Island and its continued commitment to educating Americans about the Chinese immigrant history and experience. This is the Immigration Station’s centennial year, having opened in 1910 on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay to accept the mostly Chinese immigrants who previously were housed in the Chinese Detention Shed in the city. All Chinese immigrants to the U.S. between 1882 and 1943 were subject to the Chinese Exclusion laws.

Several Committee members serve on the AIISF Board: Ming Hsu, Jeffery Lee (AIISF Vice President), and Larry Low. The organization supports the Angel Island Immigration Station, which is a National Historic Landmark and is also a museum and park. Attending the meeting were Lily Lee Chen, Andrew Cherng, Ming Hsu, Pat and Stewart Kwoh, Herman Li, William Wang, Charlie Woo, and Teddy Zee.

For more information on the Angel Island Immigration Foundation, visit http://www.aiisf.org/index.php/about

Did you know? Findings from the Committee’s 2009 Survey, "Still The 'Other'?: Public Attitudes Toward Chinese and Asian Americans"

March 2010| By Jane Leung Larson

As more and more Americans travel to the Greater China region, it is likely that attitudes will grow more positive. The Committee’s 2009 survey found that nine percent of the American public have been to Greater China (defined as mainland China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan), and 50% reported their impressions improved as a result. Only 3% said that they had a less favorable view of Greater China following their trip, while 47% said their views had not changed.

For the full survey report, go here.

"China Today: Teaching about a Changing Cultural Landscape"

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

The January/February issue of Social Education, the magazine of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), will be a valuable guide for teachers bringing China into their classrooms, with all its complexity and hot-button issues. Guest editors Kathleen Woods Masalski, director of Five College Center for East Asian Studies, and Todd Levy, former teacher and president of NCSS, have assembled contributions from such careful China observers as former NPR correspondent Rob Gifford (“Panda-Huggers and Dragon-Slayers: How to View Modern China Today”) and author Peter Hessler (“A Journey Between China’s Past and Present”) and scholars, including historian Kristin Stapleton (“What I Wish my College Students Already Knew about PRC History”) and Chinese philosophy professor Stephen C. Angle (“Confucianism on the Comeback”). The issue also includes classroom suggestions, personal stories, and a list of top films for teaching about China. Single copies are available here.

Pro Bono: Committee Members Contributing to the Greater Good

March 2010 | By Jane Leung Larson

Major General John L. Fugh (ret.), Chairman Emeritus of the Committee of 100, is engaged in a major effort by the Atlantic Council to develop a "Roadmap" to a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, a project chaired by former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Fugh, a long-time Atlantic Council board member who joins other former senior government officials on the Roadmap Steering Group, said that the U.S.-China relationship is at "a critical time," imperiled by disagreements on trade, arms sales to Taiwan, and cyberattacks. The Roadmap will provide specific recommendations on how the U.S. and China can work collaboratively on the above issues as well as on “the wide range of threats to global security posed by terrorism, proliferation, climate change impacts, pandemics, and failing states.” Fugh says that the Roadmap’s Chinese counterparts will work with the Steering Group and issue a report to Presidents Obama and Hu by the end of the year.