China, Northeast Asia and the Next American Administration

Transcript

JOHN THORNTON: Good morning. I will also be mercifully brief in order to get on to the substance of the program but I want to begin by thanking the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, Mary Lee and my good friend Ronnie Chan, and I also want to thank the University of Hong Kong, in the person of James Tang, whom I just met yesterday, but I had a very interesting dialogue with him last night. I want to thank you for partnering with Brookings on this.

The second message I want to leave with you is I regard this day as a day of mutual education. The Brookings Institution has a very long, distinguished record in the United States. It is the oldest think tank in the United States. We like to rather modestly think it is also the best think tank in the United States but the truth of the matter is it is not nearly as global an institution as it could or should be. We have a very strong desire to make ourselves a more global institution. We have some very, very outstanding scholars and programs many of whom you will see today.

The Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies has been very effective, very ably led by Richard Bush and has made a major contribution to today's program. But in addition to that, just this past year, we have decided to put a much better focus on China. We are constantly setting out to build what we hope will be the most distinctive center in the United States on China. We recognise what an ambitious undertaking that is and we do not think we will get it done soon but we hope that in ten years' time if we are sitting in this room, and if I were to ask you who in the United States understands China the best, you all would say Brookings does. That is our goal.1

I realize from my own experience that to accomplish that is very, very difficult and so we are not at all naive about that which is why, returning to my theme of mutual understanding and mutual education, we realize we have as much to learn today as we do to impart knowledge. And we think that the better the Brookings Institution is, the better and deeper impact it can have on U.S. policy, the better it will be for all of us. That is my principal message on behalf of Brookings.

I have also been asked to be the bridge to Henry Tang. I've actually been given many notes to introduce him and I thought to myself it is kind of silly for me to introduce Henry Tang in Hong Kong. So I am not going to do that. I am simply going to remark on what an outstanding public official Henry is, of the highest, highest quality , I would say of a global standard. Having met many, many public officials in my prior existence and advised many of them, I really feel that Hong Kong is in extremely good hands. We had a chance to talk yesterday about some of the issues facing Hong Kong, and facing Henry specifically and having heard the list, we quickly got out of the room thinking he had no time to talk to us anymore. He had to get back to work. Henry, we could think of no better person to open the conference than you, and I turn things over to you.

introduction and panel 1, The Next American Administration and U.S. Policy in East Asia (PDF—396kb)
luncheon speech by Strobe Talbott (PDF—115kb)
panel 2, China's Domestic Scene (PDF—178kb)
panel 3, China's External Policy (PDF—168kb)