Embassy of the United States Beijing, China

Jon Huntsman, Jr.

U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China 

Remarks - Hunan University 

 February 10, 2011 

 

Ambassador Huntsman:  I want to thank Clark Zhou for that very, very kind introduction.  I want to thank Vice President Chen of this great university for being present here and hosting my visit.  I want to thank Diane Sovereign who is our Consul General in this part of China.  And mostly I want to thank you students for taking the time to be here. 

[Applause]. 

I'm so honored and thrilled to be particularly at the Yuelu Academy.  I've just taken a tour of this remarkable center, originally one of the four great academies designed by the Emperor during the northern Song period, 960AD to 1127AD.  I feel smarter and I feel like I've been given more wisdom, just having walked through this facility.  [Laughter].   

I feel very humbled just being the American Ambassador in the presence of so many great, knowledgeable leaders in the history of China who have been here lecturing to students over the years.  I'm just very very grateful to our hosts that they didn't force me to give a lecture outside, like they did in the old days, because today it's too cold.  [Laughter].   

I walk through the buildings and I look at the inscriptions by Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong and I'm reminded of the wisdom that has existed here, that is still passed down generation to generation that you are now benefiting from. 

I'm particularly delighted to be in Hunan because Hunan is the home of choudoufu [stinky tofu].  [Laughter].    

I want to start by telling you that soon the U.S.-China relationship will be in your hands.   

When I was 11 years old I first heard of the significance of China because that was the year that then a senior American official by the name of Henry Kissinger made a very secret trip here to China -- 1971.  The next year, 1972, the President of the United States Richard Nixon visited China, and he shook hands with Premier Zhou Enlai, a handshake, that I would argue, changed the world.  At that time in history there was no trade between the United States and China, no investment here or in my country, very little in the way of student exchanges, in fact nothing at all, other than a couple of ping-pong teams going back and forth.  We were frozen, both countries, frozen in that time in history.  And I look at how quickly this relationship has changed in just a couple of short generations. 

When President Nixon stepped off of his airplane at shoudu jichang [Capital Airport] in Beijing no one was using blogs or twitters or iPhones or the internet to communicate.  Nothing.  In fact when the news media were covering most of the trip they had to take pictures and then send the pictures by mail all the way back to the United States for Americans to understand the significance of that historic visit. 

So just a couple of thoughts I would like to leave behind before I open it up for any comments or questions or criticism or advice that you would like to offer. 

There are four ways that your generation is influencing and shaping the nature of the U.S.-China relationship.  First, communication technology has allowed us to come together like no other time in human history.  Information is power.  You have the ability to access information that heretofore has been impossible.  You have the ability to communicate with people instantaneously and learn about things that are breaking throughout the world.  That's power.  That means today your generation like never before will increasingly have the ability to influence the direction of the U.S.-China relationship based upon the power of information technology. 

This technology that is being used today is redefining the way that our two countries interact and I would argue is creating new opportunities in a most unprecedented way.  It also means sometimes we can derive misunderstandings based upon where you get your information, where you derive that information from. 

In the old days we used to publish news stories.  Now you post comments and create group blogs.  We used to give speeches the old fashioned way like I'm doing here today.  Now you have web chats and on-line interviews.  We used to send letters.  Now you trade text messages instantaneously. 

The Pacific Ocean is a very big body of water that divides the United States and China, and in the old days that was a very real divide.  Today it is inconsequential because of the power of communication.  Use it.  But use it to enhance understanding.  Let's use it to bring us closer together in ways that we have never been able to do. 

Point number two:  You as the younger generation are redefining the ways that governments relate to you -- my government, your government -- in both China and the United States.  You are using these new communications to hold government more accountable, more transparent.  You are following government and government actions on-line.  You're commenting on decisions and its work.  You're judging the results, whether it's good or bad.  It is real power in your hands.  And all of us, whether in Washington or Beijing, know you are watching the outcome of the U.S.-China relationship and all the work that is being put forward to influence and shape our priorities. 

Number three:  Environmental concerns are now front and center on the agenda between the United States and China, and the way in which we are looking at collaborating to improve the quality of life, to clean up our air, to clean up rivers like those I've heard about around Changsha, for example. 

I met this morning with a very well-known company that is headquartered here in Changsha.  Their business model and design is based upon creating a better, cleaner, stronger environment going forward.  She said the way that people are now influencing change is by speaking out on the issues that matter most, and not surprisingly, one of the issues that matters most is quality of life.  It's clean air, it's cleaner cities, it's greater efficiency in the way that we live our lives. 

Number four and finally, let me say that one of the great ways that your generation is shaping and will continue to shape the U.S.-China relationship is through cultural exchange.  Some of you will be able to visit my country.  We have students from my country -- some from Harvard, some from Yale and other great universities who have an opportunity to study here and to teach here.  By that human interaction, person to person, mind to mind, heart to heart contact, this is how we begin to break down barriers, misunderstanding between us.  That's why cultural exchanges increasingly will be so very important between the United States and China. 

I was just in the United States with President Hu Jintao when he visited Washington and Chicago, and I went to an American high school with President Hu where he walked into a classroom of young American students, just about your ages, maybe a little bit younger, who were studying putonghua [Mandarin Chinese].  I would imagine these young students in America never thought that they would ever see the President of China in their classroom. Yet there was President Hu exchanging greetings in Chinese with these American students, and it did a very very important thing.  For all of the media that were covering this visit, it humanized the U.S.-China relationship.  It brought it down to where people can understand what is most important - the interaction, person-to-person between us.  It was a very very powerful symbol by President Hu. 

Here in China you're listening to the latest American music, watching American television shows.  In America one of the most popular TV shows for little kids is called "Ni Hao, Kai Lan."  When Americans used to think of China they used to think of Chairman Mao.  Now they think of Yao Ming.  When Chinese used to think of America maybe you only thought about what you saw in the movies.  Now you know LeBron James and Steve Jobs.  We are forging relationships based on greater mutual understanding and respect, and that must continue. 

So before I finish I have two more points.  As we move forward, you can influence our future, the future of the U.S.-China relationship, by just keeping a couple of things in mind.  You students need to promise the U.S. Ambassador that you will not always listen to the adults, the grownups in the room, but you will work hard to form your own opinions of the United States.   

Form your own opinions.  Trust but verify.  And this is as true in the United States as it is in China.   

We are entering an unprecedented period in our relationship where both countries are now on the world stage, unlike any other time.  There are great expectations -- and everyone is watching.  A lot of people are going to say a lot of things about the nature and benefits of this relationship.  Listen to what they say, but in the end, make up your own mind. 

Number two.  Get to know your American counterparts and friends.  The good people.  In school you'll likely learn all about America's leaders, American history and literature, but it's up to you to get to know American people, American university students, American youth.  When we get together, people to people, we always do pretty well.  We enhance understanding and we deepen trust and respect.   

So let me conclude with this thought.  This relationship between the United States and China is the most important in the world today.  We are the two largest economies, among the two largest militaries, the largest carbon emitters.  The list goes on and on. 

We don't always need to agree.  We don't need to be the same.  But we do need to listen to one another and respect one another and learn to work together.  I like to call it huxiang bangmang, huxiang xuexi, gongtong jinbu [We help each other, learn from each other and make progress together].  But now more than ever before, the success of the U.S.-China relationship will rest on your shoulders.  I hope you take it seriously. 

Thank you very much for allowing me to be here.  We're going to open it up for some questions, some comments.  But I have a homework assignment for you as well.  Above all, I want to hear from you what the U.S. and China can do to ensure a successful, prosperous and peaceful future.  This is your opportunity and your chance to give us some advice, from your heart and from your mind.  Thank you very much for allowing me to be here with you today. 

[Applause]. 

Moderator:  Thank you Mr. Ambassador Jon Huntsman.  Thank you very much for the high praises of the Yuelu Academy and Chinese culture and for the brief review of the U.S.-China relationship, and especially for the advice, suggestions and expectations for our future.  Let's promote our communication and work together for the further understanding and friendship between the peoples of the United States and China to create a better future for our two countries and also for all mankind.   

So now it's not easy for us to be face-to-face to you, Ambassador, so we take this opportunity to ask some questions, to share his views and wisdom.  So we'll take questions. 

Question:  Mr. Ambassador, I've got a question for you.  On January 11^th you held a roundtable with Chinese bloggers.  How did you benefit from it, and how do you benefit from the non-governmental media such as QQ zone and Sina blog?  Thank you. 

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you for the question about the importance of bloggers and new media.  [Applause] The one thing that has changed more than anything else in my years of involvement in public service is the way that people get their news and information.  People are turning to the internet.  They're turning to blog sites, internet sites, and they're perhaps more keenly interested in certain aspects of the news than ever before.  It means you have people beyond just the traditional journalists who are extremely influential in writing and reporting on events, trends, and offering opinions.  That is the case in the United States and it is certainly the case here in China. 

China has perhaps the largest and most sophisticated internet citizenry in the entire world -- 450 million internet users, 70 million bloggers.  These are new voices and they're extremely influential in the world of opinion making and reporting.  If our job is to get the message of the United States out to every corner of China, which is a vast country with many individual media markets within 1.3 billion people, that effort is facilitated greatly today like never before by use of the internet and bloggers.  So instead of having a traditional news conference where you get the same newspapers, radio stations and television reporters, this gives one an opportunity to reach new audiences, and particularly young audiences.  They're very sophisticated and, shall we say, very specific about their sources of news. 

So we are using the new media like never before.  Today we have a blogger traveling with us, for example, which is a great honor to be able to include him.  And we're going to continue to figure out how to use this unprecedented resource to reach out and communicate with people throughout China.

It's very interesting when we invite bloggers to ride with us -- we say there are no rules.  You can ask whatever you want.  You might not like the answer, but you're welcome to join us.   

Thank you. 

[Applause]. 

Question:  Please let me use Chinese to say this.  First of all I want to welcome Your Excellency, Mr. Ambassador, to our institute which includes the Academy with a thousand years of history.  We know that you have very close connections with China.  You actually adopted a daughter from China, so you have a Chinese daughter we can say.  So ordinary Chinese people really feel very close to you.  Especially today, you've actually brought your son here to the university with you.  So China likes to stress the importance of harmony.  Harmony in the family.  Harmony in society.  So we feel a sense of closeness with you. 

Also we had a very good exchange with Harvard University recently and we hope that we made a very good impression from that visit, and we hope that you can continue to promote more exchanges with American universities to come here to have exchanges with us. 

Also, by the way, I heard that you might be running for President in the future.  What do you have to say about that?  [Laughter and applause].   

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thanks for getting me in trouble!  [Laughter].  Let me just say that I have the great honor and opportunity of representing all the people in my country in this job and it's a job that doesn't include politics, gladly, so we'll leave that for another day. 

I've maintained a close association with China and the people of China for almost 30 years. I have some colleagues who are traveling with me like our famous interpreter, and like Bill Weinstein, who's the head of our economic section, who have been involved in U.S.-China relations for 30 years as well.  What you see are people who have dedicated their lives to promoting this most important relationship.  They were involved when this relationship wasn't very well known, when it was the very earliest of days. And I look at the impact and influence people like those whom I'm traveling with have had in promoting better understanding, cooperation, more in the way of economic interaction.  And that's a very small percentage compared to what the future holds, given all of the young Americans today who are taking China and the U.S.-China relationship very seriously. 

Wherever I go in this country I hear expressions of interest in my country, America.  When I'm in the United States I hear young people expressing interest in China.  They want to study the language, they want to study culture, they want to visit China.  So why am I optimistic about the future of the U.S.-China relationship?  I'm optimistic because in the end it's people working with people that will determine our level of peace and prosperity.  And when you have a lot of young people who show an interest in understanding China, and here in China understanding the United States, we're passing off the relationship to a lot of very energetic and smart and engaged people, and I think that's going to yield some very important things for this relationship going forward.  Despite our differences and our challenges and our obstacles.  I think the relationship will be in the hands of some very good and very serious people. 

Let me use this one example as I conclude.  We talked earlier about communication technology and how small the world is and our ability to access information instantaneously and communicate one with another.  But technology should not replace people to people interaction -- on the ground people to people interaction -- because that's where real relationships are built. 

We have a lot of very sophisticated communication capability in our American embassy, but the most influential communicator in our embassy is not the Ambassador, and it's no one here.  It's my daughter from China.  More people in China know my daughter, Yang Leyi, and she is a more effective ambassador than I am.  Why?  Because people in their heart, they feel there's a connection between the United States and China in human terms, not in technological terms, but in human terms.  I tell my daughter, who is only 11, I say you're a very successful ambassador. And she says bu tai dong ni de yisi [I don't understand].  [Laughter].  So I try to explain to her what it means to be an ambassador.  Some day she will understand. 

We have time for one more question. 

Question:  Hello, Mr. Huntsman.  I am a student at Hunan University, majoring in accounting.  I want to ask you have you found any difference between American young people now and those 30 years ago?  If yes, what do you think the factors are leading to the difference?  Thank you. 

Ambassador Huntsman:  Young people 30 years ago -- and thank you for that question.  Nimen dou jiang de yingwen feicheng hao [You all speak English very well].  [Laughter].   

I would say that 30 years ago, again, for young people attitudes and opinions were formed by relatively limited access to information: newspapers, television.  Today that's completely changed.  Today the sheer volume of information that young people have access to is probably the most powerful weapon today in the U.S.-China relationship and should ensure that we have a much better future as it relates to further understanding and trust.   

I would say that in the last 30 years one of the most important stories of the 21^st century has played out and that is China's rise to the world stage.  That is influencing the attitudes and the opinions of all young people in China. 

I notice when I get out, and I speak to young people around China, which I love to do, often times I'll get criticized for what America might do or an American policy choice.  Sometimes they will clap after the criticism.  And I will say wait a minute, China's now on the world stage too, and with leadership will come criticism.  And China too will be subject to more criticism and finger-pointing than ever before in history. 

So I think one of the things that you will experience most in your lives is the reality of China being a leader in the world where 30 years ago that wasn't the case.  And the expectations for China in terms of economic leadership and political leadership will be greater than ever before. 

So I will end where I started and I will say that today the reality is that the United States and China for the first time in history, in what may be one of the more important stories of the 21^st century, are both sitting on the world stage, and the rest of the world is looking at both the United States and China and expecting us to cooperate, expecting us to find common ground.  We won't always do that 100 percent of the time, but we're expected to take leadership positions and solve problems and deal with the Korean Peninsula and deal with weaponization in Iran and deal with global rebalancing issues -- very large and very challenging and complicated issues lie ahead.   

That's where you all will play a substantial role in the future.  It means you must better understand the relationship, you must forge new friendships with people in the United States, and you must use access to information like never before in truly understanding for yourself -- not based on what other people say, but for yourself -- what the nature of the United States and China, what the nature of the relationship is, and how it can serve the better interests of the people of Asia and indeed the world going forward. 

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