On Monday, March 19, U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke delivered the keynote address at this year's Barnett-Oksenberg Lecture on Sino-American Relations to an audience of over 450 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Shanghai. Now in its seventh year, this annual forum affords its guests the opportunity for a frank and forthright discussion of current and potential issues between the two counties; it is the first and only ongoing lecture series on U.S.-China relations to take place on the Mainland.
The lecture is named in honor of the late A. Doak Barnett and the late Michel Oksenberg, both American scholars and policymakers of distinction whose writing and actions had a direct impact on the bilateral relationship dating back to the 1960s. The two were also leaders of the National Committee and devoted much time and effort to the work of the organization. Doak was one of the founding members and second chairman of the Committee and both gentlemen served on our board for many years.
The program is timed to coincide as closely as possible with the anniversary of the Shanghai Communiqué on February 27, 1972. This seminal document, signed by President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai, was the first joint statement to be issued by the leaders of the United States and the People's Republic of China. Although limited in its content, the Shanghai Communiqué laid the groundwork for the establishment of official diplomatic relations toward the end of the decade.
The following distinguished individuals have spoken in this series:
2011: The Honorable Jon M. Huntsman, U.S. Ambassador to China. Ambassador Huntsman was formerly the governor of Utah, the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, and held positions in the White House, Department of Commerce, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
2010: The Honorable Carla A. Hills, chair of the National Committee and chair and CEO of Hills and Company. Previously, Ambassador Hills was the U.S. Trade Representative under former President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under former President Gerald Ford.
2008: The Honorable Chas Freeman, founder and chairman of Projects International. He has been an assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and chargé at the American embassies in Beijing and Bangkok.
2007: The Honorable Robert B. Zoellick, former deputy secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative, and now president of the World Bank.
2006: Dr. Kenneth Lieberthal, then professor of Political Science and William Davidson Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan. Dr. Lieberthal was special advisor to the president and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration. Since 2009 he has been director of the John L. Thornton China Center and senior fellow in Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution.
2005: The Honorable J. Stapleton Roy, former ambassador to China, Indonesia and Singapore, and presently the head of the Woodrow Wilson Institute’s Kissinger Center on China and a senior partner at Kissinger Associates.
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