Town Hall with Xiamen University Students

Remarks by Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to the PRC
Town Hall with Xiamen University Students
January 21, 2010

 

 

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you for that very kind introduction.  Can you hear me OK? 听得见我的话吗？[Translation: Can you hear me?] [Laughter].  [In Chinese Minnan Dialect: Can you hear me?] [Laughter].

It’s an honor to be here as the United States Ambassador, to meet with so many smart and energetic students.  I must tell you as I told President Zhu earlier in our meeting, that I have never visited a campus so beautiful and so lovely anywhere in the world, and I want to congratulate you on being part of the Xiamen University [inaudible].  Do we need interpretation? 你们都听得懂吗？[Translation: Do you all understand?]  [Laughter and applause].  我不会给你们一个英文的考试，你们也不会给我一个中文的考试，好不好？[Translation: I’m not going to give you an English test, nor will you give me a Chinese test. OK?]  [Laughter].

I’ve been to a lot of universities and colleges in different parts of the world, and this is the most beautiful I’ve seen anywhere.  It’s an honor and a privilege to be here.

我告诉你们一个小故事. [Translation: I’m going to tell you a little story.]

Eight months ago when I was serving as a Governor in the United States of America.  我没有想到我可能会到这儿来做美国大使. [Translation: I didn’t think that I would be coming here as the United States Ambassador.]  I didn’t think that I would be coming here as the United States Ambassador.  It was a shock to me when I came here.  可是美国总统有打电话给我，说你愿不愿意到白宫去谈一谈。[Translation: But the US President gave me a call, asking me whether I’m willing to have a conversation at the White House.]  [Laughter].

Now if you’re a Governor and you get a call from the President, 不管是共和党还是民主党[Translation: no matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat], you always say yes, right?  [Laughter].  You cannot say no.

So I went back and I talked to President Obama.  I’m a Republican.  我是共和党（人），他是民主党（人）.可是有时候这没有关系.有时候有一些事情是更大. [Translation: I’m a Republican, he’s a Democrat. But sometimes it just doesn’t matter. Sometimes there’s something bigger than that.]  I sat down in the White House with the President and he said, 在美国，政治是很重要的.可是有的时候,有一些事情比政治还重要.这个中美关系比政治还重要的.我的回答就是我跟你完全同意.完全同意.因为这个中美关系就是全世界上最重要的关系. [Translation: in the US, politics is important. But sometimes, there are things more important than politics. The Sino-US relationship is something more important than politics. My reply was that I totally agree. Totally agree. Because the Sino-US relationship is the most important relationship in the world.]  [Applause].  And the President said, 你愿不愿意到北京去做美国大使.我说我愿意为你和我的国家一些服务,到北京去做美国大使. [Translation: are you willing to go to Beijing to be the US Ambassador?  I said I was willing to serve the President and my country and be the US Ambassador in Beijing.]  So here I am as the American Ambassador, and I’m very happy.  [Applause].

I spoke with President Zhu just earlier.  He’s a very good president of Xiamen University.  I said he has the most important job in the whole world because he’s responsible for you.  He’s responsible for your attitudes.  He’s responsible for your knowledge.  And he’s responsible for your understanding of the world.

We live in a very big and a very complicated world.  But sometimes we’re reminded that the world is very small and very fragile.  I point to last week.  A very big earthquake in Haiti.  So many people died.  We don’t yet know how many people died as a result of the earthquake.  And I want to express on behalf of the United States our condolences to China for the eight Chinese citizens who were lost in that earthquake.  It’s very tragic.

But it’s a reminder that the most important thing in the world is the well-being of other human beings, of other citizens.  And when we can go to their rescue, when we can help them, that’s always a very good thing.  So the United States and China, we agree on so many things.  We disagree on some things.  We came together and we’re helping people in aid when they need it most.

The two most important countries in the world, working together in Haiti to help other people.  This is a very important story and something that we should be doing more of, between the United States and China.

Let me just tell you that I hope when you have opportunities, 你将来有机会的话，我希望你可以更了解我的国家, [Translation: if you have a chance in future, I hope you can better understand my country,] because sometimes people misinterpret or don’t understand other countries.  And when I go to universities in the United States, 我跟那些学生说,我希望你们有机会的话,你能够到中国去.我希望你们会有机会学普通话,学中国的历史文化、经济政治方面的事情, [Translation: I told those students that I hope, when you have a chance, you should go to China. I hope you will have chances to learn Mandarin, Chinese history and culture as well as better understand its economy and politics,] because that’s the way we’re going to understand each other when we come together.  So if you have an opportunity to go to the United States, if you have an opportunity to study about America, if you have an opportunity to read the U.S. Constitution, you’ll begin to understand what makes America a very unique country.  And students in the United States, when they read about 5,000 years, 五千年的中国历史[Translation: 5,000 years of China’s history], they begin to understand what makes China such a unique and a great country.  And we need more young people.  You are the future.  You are the future of the U.S.-China relationship.

So you can say, 嗨，大使，这个中美关系将来会做什么? [Translation: Hi, Mr. Ambassador, what will be the future for the Sino-US relationship?]  I ask you, what’s the future of the U.S.-China relationship?  Because you’re the future.  You’re the future of the U.S.-China relationship.  It will soon be in your hands and you will have to manage it.  And you will have to manage it based on understanding.  A deeper understanding of the United States, and Americans who have a deeper understanding of China.

But I will tell you this.  The relationship between the United States and China for 30 years already has been very good.  We have ups, sometimes we have downs, sometimes we talk, sometimes we debate, we agree on so many things, sometimes we disagree, but we always have respect for each other.  Respect for China, respect for the people of China, and we know that the Chinese people have respect for my fellow countrymen in the United States.  Because the future of the world will depend upon two countries -- the United States and China.  The future of peace, the future of economic prosperity, the United States and China will be absolutely critically important.

So the future is in your hands.  It is in your hands.  And I tell the same thing to young people in the United States.  You are part of the future.  You must get to know China.  You must get to understand the Chinese people even better.

So today the relationship is good.  The last year we have had our President visit, our trading relationship is very big, soon to be the biggest in the world -- our trading, economic relationship.  And this next year will prove to be a very important year in the U.S.-China relationship.  I think this next year, 2010, will be the most important year of the U.S.-China relationship because the world is asking for solutions.  The world needs solutions with the economy, with climate change, 气候变化. [Translation: climate change], with clean energy, with security -- North Korea and Iran.  All of these issues need to be dealt with.  All of them need to be resolved peacefully and successfully.  It will take both the United States and China to make sure that happens.

So I am honored to be here at Xiamen University, one of the great schools in the whole world with some of the smartest people in China right here.  What I want to do for the next few minutes is to allow you to either ask a question or give some advice to the American Ambassador.  因为我刚刚开始工作,我需要你们的帮助,我需要你们很好的意见. [Translation: Because I just started my new job, and I need your help. I need your good suggestions.]  We always need your good thinking and your ideas.  If it’s okay with President Zhu, we would like very much to open the floor and for you to ask any questions or provide any comments you would like.  Is that okay?

Who wants to start?

Question:  [inaudible].  She’s talking about the agriculture [inaudible] the World Expo in Shanghai and [inaudible].  [Inaudible] role, the expo in Shanghai, it will be a better life for the people with this [inaudible] economic issues and climate change.  What kind of view is the United States on [inaudible]?

Ambassador Huntsman:  One of the most… 你的老家是哪个地方？ [Translation: where are you from?]

Question:  山东青岛。[Translation: Qingdao, Shandong Province]

Ambassador Huntsman:  好地方. [Translation: Nice place.]  [Laughter].  我去过几次。[Translation: I’ve been there several times.]

Question:  欢迎你今年寒假再去。我会在家里接待您。[Translation: I Welcome you to come and visit it again in the coming winter vacation. I’ll be greeting you at home.]

Ambassador Huntsman:  世博会 [Translation: The World Expo], the expo will be a very important opportunity for the whole world.  It will be the largest event in the history of events.  Maybe the largest event that ever was.  Seventy million people will participate in 世博会 [Translation: the World Expo]. America will have a pavilion and many other countries will have pavilions.  This will be a very unique opportunity.  因为这是6个月时间. [Translation: Because it’s six months], it’s over six months, 70 million people, to better understand the differences in our cultures, 因为每个国家有不同的文化和历史. [Translation: because every country has different culture and history.]

So for everyone who visits the American pavilion they will be able to see what makes America different and unique.  So we will have Americans here, we’ll have people from Europe, we’ll have people from Asia, from the subcontinent, and so many people from China will be able to visit the American pavilion.  It is our hope that it will promote understanding of the United States, unlike anything we’ve been able to do thus far.  So that will be a very very important event within the expo.

We also hope that with so many people coming together that maybe we can find some solutions to today’s problems, because the problems today are global problems.  They’re not just China, not just the United States, not just India, not just Brazil or Russia, they’re global problems and they need global solutions.

So any time like with the 世博会 [Translation: the World Expo], you have so many people coming together, it provides a very unique opportunity to think and to come up with new solutions and to problem solve about some of our 最大的问题 [Translation: the biggest problem], about our biggest challenges, 最大的挑战 [Translation: the biggest challenges] our biggest challenges today.

So I think that through the expo many people will learn about the United States, many Americans will learn more about China.  But I think there will be many good people coming together to think about solutions for the environment, the economy, peace and security and stability.  That will be a very important opportunity.

A couple of years ago America got to see the Olympics in China.  Very very important and quality event.  Last year we got to see the 60^th Anniversary of the Peoples Republic.  Many people were impressed.  Of course this year many will get to see the 世博会 [Translation: the World Expo] which will present a different dynamic of your country.  I think it will be a very very successful event, and America is happy and pleased to participate.  Thank you.

[Applause].

Question:  [Inaudible].  I’m a student of Communication and Journalism. So you can see this is a beautiful [inaudible] but it has a beautiful see[inaudible].  But [Inaudible] different side is Taiwan.  You just mentioned the people of America and China have a duty to show some public that [inaudible] between China and [inaudible] about Taiwan.  And even the world from out this gathering [inaudible].  I think nobody wants [inaudible].  So my question is how to solve this problem, and to understand why America wants to sell weapons to Taiwan.

Another question is about your Chinese daughter.  I know you have a Chinese daughter and you say peace may be the [inaudible] between the [inaudible] of Chinese and the Americans.  And what’s your hope to the young [inaudible] China to cooperate to make [inaudible] and to make the world peace?  [Applause].

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you very much.

Two very different questions.  [Laughter].  Taiwan and my daughter.  [Laughter].  But I could say they’re both, I think, great improvements.

The United States, going all the way back to 1979; and our relationship was formalized with China, with Beijing, back almost 31 years ago, back in 1979.  I lived in Taiwan back in 1979, so I remember what it was like to be in Taiwan and Taiwan’s perception of China, and China’s perception of Taiwan, and American involvement.

We have the Taiwan Relations Act which is based on our One China Policy.  We are very very committed to our One China Policy.  It is what our relationship is based upon and this will not change.  But if you told me 30 years ago that within your life time, within a short number of years you will be able to take an airplane from Taipei to Xiamen directly, I would have said 不可能. [Translation: impossible]  There’s no way.  If you would have said, did you know that in a few years you will be able to take many flights every day from Taiwan directly to China, I would have said no, I don’t think that will happen.  And if you would have driven me down the road that I just drove down, beautiful highway with flowers and trees and bicycle pathways, that not many years ago was a military fortification, you couldn’t pass [there].  Much different.  I wouldn’t have believed it.

So when you look at the progress that has been made thanks to the leadership in Beijing and the leadership in Taipei, talking, solving problems, working toward a mutually beneficial outcome economically with the ECFA Agreement which we might see happen sometime soon.

This is all very good and very positive.  So I think the Taiwan Relations Act that has been part of our Congress in the United States has actually helped in creating an atmosphere within the region where this kind of dialogue has been able to take place and where there’s greater stability, greater predictability, and I’m also someone who thinks that all issues are resolved over time.  There’s always a time in the future where all issues will be resolved.  All I can tell you is that the issue of Taiwan is moving in a very positive direction because of the confidence that has been built across the strait and the dialogue that is going on and the people going back and forth and the investment that is taking place.  I never would have believed it 30 years ago.  I never would have believed it 15 years ago.

So I say this is moving in a good direction.  The whole world wants for this dialogue to continue and for the region to stay stable.  I sense that we’re in a very good direction where stability will be with us for a very long time.

You have a Taiwan Studies section here in this great university, probably the best in all of China.  Maybe one of the best in the world.  It’s going to be very important for the thinkers, the people with the big brains, [inaudible] professors to come up with new solutions.  And in the United States for some of our strategic thinkers to come up with new solutions for the years to come because new solutions will be needed.  Every generation new ideas need to be developed and executed.  But so far, we see nothing but peace, we see nothing but people going back and forth, direct contact, investment flows that have increased, and that’s all very very good.  We should all be in favor of that continuing.

I suspect many in the Congress of the United States are watching very closely the major improvement that is occurring as well.

With my daughter Gracie, I don’t know what to say.  I love my daughter Gracie.  She is ten years old.  她是扬州人.我们两个月以前有机会带她回到扬州去.因为她从来没有机会回到她的[inaudible].  [Translation: She’s originally from Yangzhou. Two months ago we had a chance to bring her back to Yangzhou. She had never been there before.]  For me it was the most emotional journey of my life because I got to take my daughter back to her home in Yangzhou and I could see her eyes, and I could see her smile.  She didn’t know what to think, she didn’t know what to do.  And the people in Yangzhou, 我不知道你们有没有去过扬州.扬州生活水平跟厦门一样.很漂亮的一个地方，那里的人, [Translation: I don’t know whether you have been Yangzhou before. The lifestyle in Yangzhou is similar to that in Xiamen. A very nice place. People there are] hospitable, 很热情的[Translation: hospitable] environment.  They welcomed my daughter.  And the Mayor was there who welcomed my daughter as well.  She felt so connected to the people of Yangzhou, and I felt connected to the people of Yangzhou because it was my daughter.  My daughter’s from Yangzhou and I felt that I was from Yangzhou, too.  [Laughter].  I thought 我退休以后我很想搬到扬州去[Translation:  I think I may move to Yangzhou after my retirement]. It’s such a beautiful place.

My daughter is so interested 她对中国的历史、文化、语言很有兴趣。在她的学校——在北京她参加了一个国际的一个学校——她天天现在就是学普通话。所以每一天晚上我回到我们家，她就给我考试。“爸爸，这个文字是什么意思？”她给我看 characters.  [Translation: She’s interested in China’s history, culture and language. At her school - she enrolled in an international school in Beijing – everyday she studies Mandarin. So, every night when I come back home, she’ll give me tests. “Daddy, what does this character mean?”] So we get to do her homework together.  [Laughter].  She’s been given a great opportunity here to connect with her being from China.

Somebody asked me the other day, is she more Chinese or is she more American?  Because she’s a bridge between the two.  I said she’s more Chinese.  This is her country where she was born.  She will always be Chinese.  She will always have a very strong connection to the people of China and to the places here in China, and I never want to take that away from her.  I want to make sure that she always has a great love for China, and through that her whole family has a great love for China.  That’s been a very wonderful thing to experience through Gracie.

Now everyone in China knows my daughter.  [Laughter].  They don’t care about the Ambassador, they care about my daughter.  [Laughter].  我到任何的地方都有人家问我一些问题，不是有关中国美国关系就是有关我的女儿[Translation: Wherever I go, people ask me not about Sino-US relations, but about my daughter.] [Laughter].  That’s good, because I tell my daughter, you’re only ten years old, 你才十岁，可是你已经是一个很重要的大使. [Translation: You are just 10 years old, but you already are an important ambassador.]  What do Ambassadors do?  Ambassadors bridge, like桥 [Translation: bridge].  They bridge cultures and they bring understanding.  So people ask her about America.  And when she’s in America, they ask her about China.  She’s brought a great understanding to the U.S.-China relationship and she’s only ten years old.  她很漂亮,很聪明, [Translation: she’s pretty and smart] [inaudible]. [Laughter].  She now knows what that means, and she’s my daughter.  I love her very much.  Thank you.

[Applause].

Question:  Thank you very much.  I have a question.  My name is _____.  My English name is [inaudible] and I’m from the English [inaudible] with a second major in Economics.  But my question is not very economic or very diplomatic, it’s kind of a personal question.

We know that today when more people in the United States learning Chinese but I don’t think many people back to your time in [college] interested in learning Chinese.  So I wonder what’s the most [inaudible] for you to learn Chinese, this language, at that time.  And another question, [college], this period is a very important time for students to bring their outlook and their vales about their whole lives.  Do you have any suggestions to us?  What’s your definition of success?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you.  你的英语是什么地方学的？[Translation: where did you study your English?]  [Laughter].

Question:  [inaudible].那里的老师[inaudible] 放美国的电影和音乐。[Translation: The teachers there would play American movies and music.]

Ambassador Huntsman:  你讲的很好。很地地道道的。[Translation: You speak very well. Very authentic.]

Question:  你的中文也很地道。[Translation: Your Chinese is also very authentic.]

Ambassador Huntsman: 不象你的英语讲得这么好. [Translation: Not as good as your English.] What is the definition of success?  I think the definition of success is making your dreams come true, because everyone in this room has a different dream, a different 不同的愿望[Translation: different desire], a different desire.  Some people want to be doctors, some people want to be lawyers, some people want to be teachers, some people want to be diplomats, some people want to create something, a business, something like that.  You can’t tell a doctor that they need to become a lawyer; and you can’t tell someone who wants to be a lawyer that you have to become a teacher, because it’s in your heart.  Right?  It’s in your heart.

What I’m doing right now, 我今天这个工作[Translation: the job that I’m doing now], is in my heart.  I love it.  It’s what I always wanted to do.  Maybe I’m not so good, but you have to follow what’s in your heart, and you have to think how do I want to change the world?  How do I want to have an impact on the world?  Because life is so short, and you have a limited amount of time to leave your impact on the world, so you must follow your heart.  And wherever your heart takes you, that is success.  That is success.  If it takes you in a direction where you have a great restaurant, that is success.  If it takes you toward being a great mother or a great father, that is success.  If it takes you toward being a great university president, that is success.  No one can force success on you, that’s from your heart, and you have to follow what’s in your heart because everybody knows what they want to do.  To have a desire, to have a 愿望[Translation: desire], to go out and do something.  That then becomes your own success.  That is the success of the world.

Chinese language.  I had the opportunity to study. 三十年前我就开始学中文。那个时候在美国不是很多人有[inaudible]，大部分的大学没有中文课. [Translation: I started to learn Chinese 30 years ago. At that time in the US, there were not many [inaudible]. Most of universities didn’t have Chinese courses.] And in public schools, 高中、中学[inaudible] [Translation: High schools, middle schools].  When I was elected Governor I made a decision for our schools, 在美国,州长 in charge 管理所有的学校，高中、中学、小学、大学[Translation: In the United States, governors are in charge of administration of all schools, including high schools, primary schools and universities], responsible for all of them.  When I was growing up you could study 俄文、法文和西班牙文. 今天俄文是很好的语言,只是越来越没有用. [Laughter].法文，也不错，可是普通话越来越有用。  全世界最重要的语言：普通话和英文. [Translation: Russian, French and Spanish. Today, Russian is a very good language, but just less and less useful. French, also nice. But Mandarin is more and more useful.] If you speak both languages, 你会有成功. [Translation: you’ll succeed.]  [Laughter and applause].

[inaudible].  So in our schools in my state we started Chinese study in 小学[Translation: primary schools].  And I got 有很多俄文的老师写信给我,很生气.因为我改变到普通话和阿拉伯话.因为将来的话,比较重要. [Translation: many teachers of Russian wrote to me, very upset, because I changed to Mandarin and Arabic. Because in the future, (they’ll) be important.]  So now in my state many young people have an opportunity to study Chinese, at a very young age.  很年轻就能够开始学.以前不是这样.很年轻就能学普通话的话,你的头脑就会改变. [Translation: (People) can start to learn at a young age. Your mind will be changed if you start to learn Mandarin when you are young.]  You will see文化方面、历史方面[Translation: culture and history] much different.  You will begin to understand the cultural differences.  It isn’t for older people, it’s for younger people, when they grow up and they speak 语言[Translation: languages], they see the world differently.  If you speak English, you see the world a little differently, right?  You can understand things.  在美国，你会讲普通话 [Translation: in the US, if you speak Mandarin], your world view is different, much different.  So to make the best impact on the future generation, you start very young with language, and I think many many states in America 越来越会有这样的机会[Translation: will have more and more such chances].  That will be the most important contribution to understanding and peace 20 years, 40 years.  It isn’t 我的这个老油条的样子. [Translation: the way that an old sophisticate like me is.] [Laughter].  It’s [inaudible] when you start very very young and you study.  So thank you.

[Applause].

Question:  A question about Chinese policy.  We have this idea of a harmonious world, world harmony in China.  And the United States government [inaudible].  How do you see it?  How do you implement it?

Ambassador Huntsman:  This is a very good question and we should be asking this question every day.  My own answer is everyone knows where the United States and China disagree.  每一天的报纸上都说. [Translation: It’s mentioned on newspapers everyday.]  Every day you can read about America is here, Chinese here.  Always [inaudible].  My daughter would say [inaudible].  But we don’t spend enough time talking about where we agree.  The United States and China have enormous agreement.  We want good, stable communities; we want education opportunities; we want jobs; we want peace; we want prosperity and security.  So in order to have the kind of harmony that I think is desirous in a U.S.-China relationship in the future, we must do a better job of identifying where we intersect, where we have shared interests, where we have shared values, where we come together.

You always look at where you part company.  That’s easy.  Everyone can always, with my wife, 我已经结婚了26年[Translation: I have been married for 26 years].   I can always tell you where my wife and I will part company, where we will have a disagreement.  That’s easy.  But it’s hard sometimes to bring together the issues on which you converge and where you have [inaudible].  When I look to the future, we’re going to have to do more and more work on where we come together, and that means more and more people in the United States, just like in China, are going to have to understand the importance of the relationship, to understand where they come together.  That will be very important for a harmonious relationship.  Thank you.

[Applause].

Question:  你好大使先生。我是来自外文学院的夏文涛(音)，我想先用中文提个问，然后再翻译成英文。[Translation: Hello, Mr. Ambassador. I’m Xia Wentao from Foreign Language School. I want to raise questions in Chinese first, and then translate them in English.]  [Laughter]. (Questions in Chinese).  Now I translate my question. 

Mr. Ambassador, we know that a lot of Chinese [inaudible] are now in [inaudible] our country and includes in our Chinese young people.  Also we can see [inaudible] are [inaudible] America, because we can see that from the Hollywood movies and some cartoons.  So what do you think is the influence of American culture in China and what do you think is the Chinese culture impact on America?

My second question is what you can do as the Ambassador of the United States and also what we can do as Chinese young people in the future to improve the culture, communication?  Thank you.

Ambassador Huntsman:  A very excellent question.  Today we have an opportunity like never before to do this.  There are so many people on the internet in China, in the United States, can communicate back and forth.  So many opportunities.

When I was growing up, no opportunities.  When I came here in 1983年我第一次到中国来[Translation: in 1983 when I first came to China] to make a call to the United States you had to order the call, 然后这个operator就会给你2个小时以后给你打电话通到美国[Translation: then in two hours that operator connect you to the US], you had to wait for a long period of time.  Today you can communicate instantaneously.  You can pull up information very very quickly.

I think America’s greatest contribution in the relationship is the spirit of innovation.  The one thing that makes America very unique and very different from a lot of countries in the world is we have a very innovative and a very creative culture.  When everything looks like it’s [inaudible], like it’s not going very well, like economically 今天那个经济方面、或者政治方面[Translation: economically or politically today].  Something is created and it comes up and it strengthens America.  Like 30 years ago we had the creation of software and computers.  Before that it was telecommunications.  Not long ago it was pharmaceutical and biotechnology development.  So we keep innovating and creating things.  I think that’s a very important part of our relationship.  Because together the United States and China can create things together, and we can develop and innovate together. I think it would be wonderful if between the United States and China we decided that we were going to cure diseases or help Haiti like we’re doing today or find an electric car, an electric automobile.  We can do it.  We have smart enough people in both countries and we communicate and we work together, but not enough.  We need to improve that.

But I think America’s greatest contribution to the relationship is our sense of innovation and creativity, because over time I see China becoming so creative and so dynamic and so innovative in such a short period of time.  It’s very very exciting to see.  And China’s contribution to the United States, there is a richness in your culture and in your history and in your traditions.  美国只有一个200多年的历史.这是很短的时间.可能那个清朝的样子.可是中国有五千年的历史, [Translation: The United States only has a history of over 200 years. It’s a short period of time. Maybe like the Qing Dynasty. But China has a history of 5,000 years], the longest civilization I can think of that is continuing, and you have literature, and you have traditions and you have customs that are still used today.  It’s a very good example to the United States about the power of traditions and the power of culture and the power of many of the things that you are very [inaudible] over many many centuries of time, that in America sometimes we do things too quickly, sometimes we forget, sometimes we don’t pay enough attention to culture and tradition.  We can learn from China about what can make a country strong, stronger by paying attention to the cultures, traditions, that have made America great, that have made China great.  These are two things that I think will strengthen our relationship if we allow that to happen.

But the one thing that I always hope will be a part of our relationship is the ability to communicate back and forth.  The ability to [inaudible], the ability to go on the internet and to learn about the United States, the good things, the things you don’t like, but you’re learning always.  And in the United States, Americans can learn whatever they want about China.  That’s how the relationship should evolve.  All the information [inaudible] good decisions.  The future is going to move very very quickly.  Much faster than when I was younger.  It’s going to move very very quickly through your generation, and that means an understanding on both sides will be more important than ever.

One more question?

Question:  Thank you very much, Jon Huntsman.  I am very honored to [inaudible].  I want to show [inaudible] view.  Here I have a question for you.  How can you as the Ambassador to China, what do you think is the biggest challenge in [inaudible] in the U.S.-Chinese relationship?

Ambassador Huntsman:  The biggest challenge.  The biggest challenge in the U.S.-China relationship is overcoming perceptions.  Overcoming misunderstandings.  That is the biggest challenge.  If everyone in the United States understood China the way it is and the way the Chinese people are, and their hopes and their dreams for the future, there would be a much different attitude.  If everyone in China understood the United States for the country that it is and the kind of compassionate, caring people who are there, there would be a much different attitude as well.

So both countries have shared interests and they’re wonderful people and a very bright future, but sometimes there are misperceptions.  So when you’re a diplomat you must communicate about those perceptions and you must try to overcome some of the misunderstanding and that [inaudible], it takes a lot of [inaudible].  You also have to remember that China is moving so quickly.  If you came here ten years ago you wouldn’t recognize it.  If you came here five years ago you wouldn’t recognize China.  If you came here two years ago you wouldn’t recognize China.

So in order to understand what’s happening here, you have to pay attention and you have to study and you have to try to understand it.

So the biggest challenge, and we can overcome it, is getting over misperceptions and misunderstandings.  Sometimes [inaudible] where we don’t pay attention [inaudible].  But in any big relationship, and the U.S.-China relationship is the biggest in the world.  Every year it will get bigger and bigger and more important.  And it means that we will have to work very hard, your generation, to overcome the misunderstandings and the misperceptions.

So that is your challenge, all of you, as the generation that will inherit the U.S.-China relationship.  We must work very very hard to deepen and broaden understanding on both sides because [inaudible].

Thank you all very very much.

[Applause].

 

 

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