Ambassador Huntsman:  (Speaking in Mandarin.)  Professor Sun, thank you for that very kind invitation originally to be with your students.  I am truly honored to be here today. 

(Speaking in Mandarin.)

It is a great pleasure to be able to speak with you here today, and in particular to be able to celebrate – I know a little bit in advance – Tsinghua’s 100th anniversary.  The United States has a very special connection to this university that I want to mention for just a moment.  When Teddy Roosevelt, who is one of my very favorite presidents, when he served as President, the United States government established a scholarship program for Chinese students with funds from the indemnity imposed on the Qing Dynasty for supporting the Boxer Rebellion.  The “American Indemnity College” (Meiguo Peikuan Xuexiao), was founded in 1911 through this program, and helped some of China’s top students prepare for study in the United States.

Among the many prominent Chinese who benefited from this scholarship were the philosopher Hu Shih, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Chen Ning Yang, the mathematician Kai Lai Chung, and the astronautical engineer Qian Xuesen, who later founded China’s rocket program.  So successful was this scholarship program, in fact, that the Fulbright Scholarship – the premier American scholarship program today – was modeled after it.  And as you know, in 1928, the American Indemnity College became Tsinghua University.  We are pleased to be so intimately associated with your founding and evolution.  And we celebrate with you 100 years of friendship, and Tsinghua’s proud history as one of China’s and the world’s top academic institutions.

Now I’m delighted to be here this morning as well with my wife.  (Speaking in Chinese.)  My son John has told me that when you define relationships you must be very careful.  In America there is something called DTR.  Do you know what DTR means?  DTR is American slang for “define the relationship.”  [Laughter].  So in America when two kids are dating, and I’m not going to ask John to come up and describe his experiences, someone will always expect something of the other.  Where is the relationship going?  Are we going to get married?  Are you going to introduce me to your parents?  Have you even told your friends that we’re going out?  So on and so forth.  You should never ruin a relationship by defining it too early on, because putting a label on a relationship too early sometimes gives rise to expectations, which lead to complications.  And before you know it, you’re single again.  [Laughter]. 

But in this case I think I’m pretty safe in defining U.S.-China relations.  Not only because our two great countries have had a relationship for nearly 250 years, but also because in bilateral, as opposed to romantic relationships, sometimes you do need to stop and take stock of where you are and where you’re going.   And no bilateral relationship in the world today is more important than the one between the United States and China.

A long-time China hand once told me that any time is an interesting time to be in China.  But I would suggest to you that this year, the Year of the Tiger, is likely to be the most important in the 30-year diplomatic history between the United States and China.  This is not because of recent tensions over arms sales to Taiwan or the President’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.  We’ve had and managed these differences for the past 30 years and at the same time have been able to develop a broad and very productive relationship.  Rather what makes this year so pivotal is that it is one in which we must take action and make real progress on pressing global issues like economic recovery, nuclear proliferation and climate change and clean energy.  What we do together – the United States and China – this year will help define how we address the challenges ahead for the rest of the decade.

These are challenges, by the way, that no one country can solve.  Leaders in both China and the United States recognize that as two of the world’s three largest economies, two of the world’s largest populations, two of the world’s largest militaries and the world’s largest consumers of energy and producers of carbon emissions, we share a responsibility to work together to find creative solutions to today’s problems.  Together we can bring the rest of the international community along with us and make real progress on these issues.  Together we can build the kind of positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship that both of our presidents have outlined, envisioned, and talked about.

I’m naturally an optimist.  But I’m also someone who’s been interested and involved in the U.S.-China relationship for the past 30 years.  I’ve seen enough ups and downs to know that the recent turbulence we’ve experienced is part of a natural cycle.  Of course, I’d also like us to find ways out of this cyclicality, but our relationship is mature and stable enough to weather our differences.  We are bigger than one or two individual issues.  I am convinced that blue skies are already on the horizon.  I expect we’ll be well on our way to regaining the high cruising altitude we achieved in our relationship last year maybe even by the opening of the Shanghai Expo in May.  And I’m confident we’ll see real progress on the global challenges we face when we come together again for the next round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue before summer and when President Hu visits the United States this year, as he told President Obama he would.

One of the reasons I’m optimistic is because I’ve seen where we’ve been and how far we’ve come.  Thirty years ago, the United States faced stagflation, high unemployment and declining standards of living.  Confidence in the American economic model had been undermined, and the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War had shaken confidence in the American political model.  So great were the anxieties in the United States about the future that President Carter gave a speech in July of 1979 entitled “America’s Crisis of Confidence,” in which he called for renewed faith in the American system.  Everywhere you looked, people were saying that America was in decline and would soon lose its leading role in the international system.

But then an interesting thing happened.  On the political front, we regained our confidence by holding fast to the values that have made America a source of inspiration for people all around the world.  And on the economic front, we bounced back stronger than ever, thanks to a thing called innovation, which created new technologies.  Bill Gates came out of nowhere and founded Microsoft Corporation.  Steve Jobs came out of nowhere and founded Apple.  The Internet revolutionized the way we get information and the way in which we communicate one with another.  Innovations like these laid the foundation for the next 30 years of economic growth in the United States.  And innovations we can’t even imagine today – but perhaps tied to health care, clean energy and biotechnologies – will no doubt lead the way into the future.  We are committed to sharing these strengths and innovations with the global community. 

Thirty years ago, China also faced an uncertain future.  The country had just emerged from a decade of enormous social, economic and political upheaval.  And Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening up” (gaige kaifang), those policies were still untested.  But China’s commitment to a policy of engagement with the world and its gradual integration into the international system proved tremendously beneficial and contributed to the prosperity and stability of the last 30 years.

China’s economic growth in that time has been nothing short of amazing.  China’s GDP has increased 82-fold since 1979, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the process, an accomplishment unparalleled in human history.  Much of this growth has been driven by exports.  Thirty years ago, China’s share of global trade was less than 0.1%.  Today, it is more than 10%.  This trade has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and fueled economic growth.

China’s economic development and integration into the international system have gone hand-in-hand with the strengthening of the U.S.-China relationship.  When President Carter sent National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to China in 1979 to formally establish diplomatic relations, there were only just over one thousand foreigners in Beijing.  Today, there are more than that connected just to the U.S. Embassy here alone, and more Americans across China than in the state of [Wyoming].

Thirty years ago, U.S.-China trade was miniscule.  Before coming to Beijing last summer, I read President George Bush’s memoirs about his time as head of the U.S. Mission here in the 1970s.  In one chapter, he laments that bilateral trade in 1974 to 1975 had dropped from $1 billion to $500 million.  Today, the state of Utah, where I served as governor, now exports more than that to China each year.  Just one U.S. state.  Our overall trading relationship is now nearly $400 billion strong and will soon become the largest trading relationship in the world. 

Thirty years ago, the flow of people between our two countries was extremely limited.  In the last year alone, however, our Embassy and Consulates in China issued nearly half a million visas to Chinese citizens traveling to the United States for business, tourism, family reunions – you name it.  There are now nearly 100,000 Chinese students studying in the United States, and nearly 20,000 Americans studying here in China, a number we hope to increase five-fold over the next four years.

The United States has supported and contributed to China’s rise as a global player every step of the way because we recognize that a China that is strong, prosperous and engaged on international issues contributes to global prosperity and stability.  We now have a very complex relationship, and we work together on an unbelievably wide range of issues – everything from energy efficient building codes to counternarcotics to health.  As one specific example, I just returned from the city of Zhengzhou where our National Institutes of Health cooperated to open a new tuberculosis research center that will help us better understand and treat this disease in China and indeed, around the world.

The relationship between our countries is even broader when you look at the people-to-people connections.  There are countless sister-state and sister-city relationships, joint ventures, cultural and educational exchanges, business relationships, students, families and friends that bridge the Pacific and bind our two countries like never before.  My family is just one example.  You see, my daughter is from Yangzhou.

In fact, the U.S.-China relationship is so large and complex that any way you describe it is probably accurate at some level.  But in evaluating the relationship and the impact we’ve made, I think you have to ask are we better off today?  Is the region more stable?  More prosperous?  I think the answer is absolutely, no doubt about it!  And we’ve accomplished all this despite our differences, which we should never shy away from speaking openly about.  Differences we’ve had for decades, but differences that haven’t prevented us from moving forward on other issues.  This is an important lesson for all of us today, and one of the reasons I think I’m justified in being optimistic about where the relationship is headed. 

Now I’ve spent a lot of time talking about areas of cooperation between the United States and China.  This is not to downplay our differences, but rather to put them in their proper context both historically and in the broad scope of our overall relationship. 

China’s worldview is shaped by Confucian values and a 5,000-year history marked by revolution and reform.  The American worldview and experience are based on the compact created by our founding fathers, our Constitution, and an imperfect quest to improve the human condition both at home and abroad.  These differences don’t mean our cultures are destined to clash, but rather that we must work ever harder to understand each other. 

Our leaders recognize this, which is why they concentrated last year on getting to know one another better and defining our priorities together.  It was a positive year in terms of relationship building.  But this year we’re putting the relationship to the test in trying to take it to a new level of cooperation.  To put our relationship on a more stable and mature footing, we have to delink our differences on bilateral issues from our cooperation on global issues, including things like nonproliferation.

Differences on Taiwan and Tibet cannot and must not, prevent us from working together to create jobs, address climate change, and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.  Finding solutions to these problems is simply too important to be derailed by differences we’ve had and managed successfully for the last 30 years.  On the economic front we need to show progress this year in creating jobs and rebalancing our economies to demonstrate to increasingly impatient domestic constituencies that our economic relationship continues to be equally beneficial to both countries.  On the U.S. side, this means saving more, spending less, reforming our financial system, reducing our long-term deficit and exporting more.  On China’s side we hope to see more flexibility on the exchange rate, more domestic consumption, a stronger social safety network, a greater commitment to protecting intellectual property rights, and continued open access to Chinese markets.  We also need to demonstrate to other countries that two of the world’s largest trading partners will continue to adhere to the rules of free trade and work to resolve trade disputes through the WTO, as we have done.  In this way, we can lay the foundation for long-term economic growth in both of our countries. 

On Iran, we must take immediate action to prevent the leadership in Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability and further threatening the region.  China has enormous energy needs and imported more oil from Saudi Arabia last year than did the United States.  Tensions in the Middle East have an impact on the price of oil internationally and can adversely affect China’s development strategies.  We both have an interest in ensuring that the region is stable and secure, and in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, which threatens the security of both of our countries.  So we look to China to support strong sanctions should Iran continue to stall on the dialogue track.  We hope China will work with us on other important nonproliferation efforts, and pursue ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, support negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty and actively participate in next month’s Nuclear Security Summit.

On climate change, we need to show real progress this year towards an agreement on establishing verifiable emissions reduction targets.  As the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, we have a responsibility to lead the way in ensuring that the next international climate change summit in Mexico is a success.  We also need to continue working together to develop and implement new energy conservation measures.  And one of the ways we can do this is by strongly supporting and funding the recently-established U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center.  The environmental, social and economic costs of failing to act, and act now, are significant. 

So this year could be the most important in the history of our bilateral relationship.  As an optimist, I believe the test will be how we take our relationship to a new level of cooperation and make real progress in resolving the pressing global issues that we face today.

For America, this also means working together on human rights.  We were disappointed in the trend in China over the past year, particularly in the harsh sentences given to those who spoke out for greater rights and in China’s continued support for regimes that routinely violate human rights.  We want to see a strong, prosperous and stable China, and we believe this is only possible when people are confident enough to speak truth to power, both here and abroad.  We hope this year will be a better one for human rights in China, and look forward to sharing views at our upcoming Human Rights Dialogue and in interaction throughout the year.

I am confident we’ll work through our differences as we always have – through dialogue – and that we’ll be able to get on with the important work that needs to be done.  Together we can lay the foundation for another 30 years of economic growth and stability in our countries, and in the world.

But soon your generation will take ownership of the U.S.-China relationship with new layers of complexity.  Our ability to resolve our differences will increasingly depend on understanding each other’s systems, traditions and history.  Despite advancements in technology, our relationship, I believe, will still be a human endeavor, dependent on goodwill, shared interests and honest dialogue. 

Thank you all so very much for allowing me to be here. 

[Applause].

Moderator:  Thank you very much for your wonderful presentation.  I guarantee these are original, non-censored questions.  [Laughter]. 

Question:  I want to ask about the exchange rate.  I went recently to [inaudible] to [inaudible] President Obama to [inaudible] China as a currency manipulator for the first time in the 70 years.  So how do you see this back and forth [inaudible] will affect the bilateral relation?  And if China keeps [inaudible] for the U.S., how do you see the economic and the financial matters rather than traditional factors in our Sino-U.S. relationship?  Thank you very much.

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you for getting me in trouble.  [Laughter].  No, thank you very much for the question.

First of all on the exchange rate question, I think Secretary Geithner and President Obama have spoken out most recently on the issue and I suspect there will be many important negotiations in the weeks ahead. 

This is a real concern for people in my country.  Unemployment is almost 10%.  It’s a difficult economic period.  I believe we’ll rebound and recover in time, but right now it’s a very difficult time.  Many see the trading relationship with China as a little bit out of balance, partially because of the currency issue.

This isn’t just an American issue.  My Chinese friends like to pitch this as just an American issue.  I like to say there are many countries that feel the same way.  Many of China’s largest trading partners feel that way.  I was with some yesterday.  There are some in Europe, there are some in South America, but more than that, the IMF, which is not a country – but has many country participants – has also spoken out on this issue.  They just do analytical work.  They just do econometrics and modeling.  They have spoken out about the issue as well.

So there are many opinions on currency.  The negotiations ahead will be very, very important.  I think the opinions you’re hearing on both sides are very important.  It’s important for people in China to hear from our Congress, 130 Members of whom sent a letter to Secretary Geithner in the last day or two.  It’s important for us to understand where China is coming from on this issue.  Then you can allow negotiators to find a pathway forward, which is typically how these issues are worked out.

But I would be misleading you if I left you with the impression that this wasn’t a very important issue in the United States and will continue to be.  We’ll see how the next few weeks play out.

With respect to the larger trading relationship, the economic relationship.  You know, in the early days I made it a point to talk about when President Bush was Ambassador here, head of the Liaison Office in 1974, 1975, the trading relationship was very small, $500 million.  $500 million.  Many American companies (today) have more invested in China than $500 million.  Today we’re almost the largest trading relationship in the world – nearly $400 billion, with a lot of moving parts and a lot of layers of complexity.  I would say a sign of the success in our relationship is the fact that we’ve come so far so fast.

I was in Doha, Qatar, in November of 2001 when China entered the WTO.  And a lot of my Chinese friends like to say the Shanghai Communiqué was China preparing to enter the world.  (Speaking in Mandarin), back in 1972.  Then you fast forward in history to November 2001 with China in the WTO.  A lot of my Chinese friends like to say (speaking in Mandarin).  That was China’s entrance into the world.  China’s on the world stage.  They have embraced the rules of the world trading system.  That’s a very good thing and it means that our relationship as we go forward is now based on rules.  And if we have complaints and concerns, we know how to get them resolved.  Unlike the old days.  I remember in the old days when I participated with the JCCT many years ago, we weren’t members of the world trade system, and every single trade complaint was a drawn-out negotiation.  It’s much different today.

So I think we need to put in perspective $400 billion in trade, almost the largest trading relationship in the world.  And when I hear my friends in China say well there’s protectionism, and there are problems in the trade and economic side, I say well let’s put them in perspective.  Maybe 2% or maybe 3% of our entire trading relationship is tied up in disputes.  I can’t think of a trading relationship anywhere in the world, to say nothing of the largest in the world, with this level of complexity that doesn’t have 2% or 3% of its trade wrapped up in disputes of some kind.

I remember the most difficult and acrimonious trade issue in recent years was with America’s neighbor to the north, Canada, over softwood lumber.  It was difficult and it was long and it was painful, but it was resolved.  As it was with the European Union and the United States over an issue called AirBus subsidies.  Very long and very difficult and very complex, and they were very angry back and forth.  But we took the issue like we must do increasingly in the U.S.-China relationship, and we put it in proper channels.  We compartmentalized it in trade channels.  We let the experts negotiate a solution and we moved on to the bigger, broader relationship.  And I think we’re beginning to figure out how to deal with these issues in the U.S.-China relationship.  It’s still early on the trade side because there’s so much happening and so many issues to deal with and so many layers of complexity.  And China’s relatively new to the WTO.  I think they’re still trying to figure out how the process works, working through everything from how they’re represented in Geneva to the various dispute settlement mechanisms.

So what is important is not that we have disputes.  That’s not the issue.  We have some disputes today and we’ll have disputes tomorrow and the next day and the next day.  It’s how we resolve the disputes.  Left to the professionals, left to the rules-based trading system, through negotiation like we do with so many other countries of the world.  Because the U.S.-China trading relationship is not going to disappear tomorrow.  It will get bigger and bigger and bigger, and we’ll find that there is more in the way of U.S. exports coming here to China, probably more Chinese investment going to the United States.  The dynamic of the trading relationship with China’s growing consumer base, which is inevitable in the years to come will take on a different dynamic as well.

So thank you for your question.

Question:  I am [inaudible], I’m from Yemen.

Ambassador, you mentioned Iran as a threat to the Middle East.  You have to know that you and Israel [inaudible] is the main threat, is the real threat to the Middle East.

My question is about the human rights report.  I’d like to ask you, who gave you the right to talk about the human rights and why didn’t you mention your [inaudible] in Afghanistan or in Iraq in your report? 

Ambassador Huntsman:  It would be great if the process that has been laid out between the P5 plus Germany, which is based both on engagement and on sanctions if engagement fails to work, if there was some success to show for this process.  Many countries of the world, and it isn’t just the United States – we’re sometimes the largest country in the room and oftentimes get blamed for various issues – there are many countries of the world who feel quite strongly about weaponization in Iran and the overall threat to long term security.

This process is playing out with many countries.  Language is being drafted at the United Nations.  There will be more to come in terms of how this issue ultimately plays out.

The United States is a very open and transparent system.  You must understand this.  I think unlike any other country I’ve watched, looked at or analyzed, the transparency of the United States means that people see us for who we are and they’re able to see every aspect and every facet of our governance system and our deliberative process.  They see our deliberations, they see our arguments, they see congressional hearings play out, they watch our elections and all the speeches that are given around elections.  It’s a very open and some think oftentimes chaotic system, but it results in the people speaking.  Every person counts.  Every person matters in our system.  And we sometimes feel rather passionately about the dignity of the individual and giving the individual the right to participate in the affairs of politics and in the public policy process.

So some will criticize the United States for the debates and the discussions that we have and the overall direction of policy; but I’m not sure the United States should ever be criticized for the way in which our business is transacted in an open and deliberative and transparent process.  This is something that we are proud of and we sometimes like to talk about it to others in the world.  We hope that over time it results in good governance and it results in greater participation by all people in our political system.  As Thomas Jefferson said early on in some founding documents, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  I think today in the United States those are still very much our guiding ideals.

Thank you very much for your question.

Moderator:  You see the clash of civilization, and we all appreciate the frank dialogue.

Another question?

Question:  Thank you so much.  I come from the Department of Information Technology.  So first welcome you and your family to Tsinghua University.

You mentioned racial differences, cultural backgrounds.  Confucius said that first you cultivate yourself, then you can manage or handle your family affairs; after that you can manage your country, you can handle the state affairs.  So my question is that since your family is here, can you tell us something about the similarities and differences between kind of relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between countries?  Because I say that most of us are still with our families, or we already have a family, but only you, you are the Ambassador, and you can get a chance to get a feeling about how to handle the state affairs.  So I want to know the similarity and difference between these two kinds of relationships.  Thank you so much.  [Laughter and applause].

Moderator:  The ying and the yang of the [world] we’d like to hear.

Ambassador Huntsman:  With my wife who is sitting right here in the crowd, I don’t know how to even begin this discussion without getting myself in trouble somewhere along the line.  [Laughter]. 

You’re right about our differences.  We shouldn’t shy away from our differences.  They’re part of our culture, heritage, part of our history, part of the respective systems that we have.  So the fact that the American representative can stand here and talk about things like human rights and why we’ve made certain decisions with respect to Taiwan or Tibet.  And you can stand up and you can say, why do you do that?  Or touch upon the differences that many would think are sensitive.  A mature relationship like we have between the United States and China should allow for respectful discourse on all the issues.  Respectful discourse.  I think the people of the United States have deep respect for China’s culture, traditions and history.

I spent most of my adult life trying to study it, and I know many others in the United States even at a very young age who are learning (speaking in Mandarin) are coming up.

Confucian values.  I was in Zhengzhou a while ago.  I wanted to go all the way to Qufu which is where Confucius is from and then go next door to where Mencius is from who did so much in terms of interpreting the work of Confucius.  My own life has been influenced by Confucius’ values, his sense of morality and public service, virtue, truth, honesty.  These are enduring principles that I think are as important today as they were over 2000 years ago.  I don’t think Confucius ever envisioned the world being as complex as it is today.

But it’s also interesting to note that for some long period of time after Mencius took the work of Confucius, it became the code book for public servants here in China.  It became the standard for civil service following the Confucius ethos.  I think if we today, in both countries, had to follow the Confucius ethos, if those standards were applied to us, the Congress of the United States and the party here, the Central Committee, how would we fare?  How would we rate?  I don’t know.  But I can tell you that ethics in government is a very, very important subject in the United States.  I was involved as governor in a drive toward stronger and stronger ethics in my own state to the point where many in the legislature would say you’re going too far, we don’t like that.  Quit doing that.  I don’t think you can ever have public servants – whether here in China or in the United States – who go beyond in terms of ethical conduct.  They should always be striving for stronger and stronger ethics.  I think Confucian thought and values, and the way in which they were implemented in early civil service codes I think is probably a pretty good example of that.

The marriage differences.  Let me just say that my wife has told me before that the U.S.-China relationship sometimes has its ups and downs, its parallels, its similarities to the relationship of true romantics.  [Laughter].  They’re brought together for profoundly important reasons.  They both have their own strong opinions that sometimes create moments of tension, sometimes long moments of tension.  [Laughter].  Yet in the end they’re usually able to come back together based upon their shared values, or they wouldn’t have come together in the first place, and they’re able to put the relationship back together again.

We have to remember that as I think Secretary Kissinger would tell you if he were here, the China he entered in July of 1971 was a China that was in a much different situation than it is today.  And the relationship with the United States was born out of balance of power realities at that time.  The balance of power realities are much less present in our relationship today, and you can now add 10 or 12 different issues that make the relationship thrive.  There wasn’t the Soviet Union back in those days that created a balance of power dynamic.  There wasn’t the Vietnam War that added to that as well.  It’s a much different dynamic today. 

I think back to your analogy, we’ll continue to have our ups and downs.  What I think we need to ask ourselves is: we can live with cyclicality, but how deep do we want those cycles to go?  And how effective should we be in managing the cycles going forward?  I suspect that with the relationship now 31 years old – the formal diplomatic relationship – that it will be your generation, you all will have to think about how you manage the next generation of the U.S.-China relationship.  Because there will always be some cycles; in romantic relationships there are always cycles.  How deep do you want those cycles to go?  You never want them to go too deep, and they shouldn’t.  There’s too much at stake in any meaningful relationship. 

But I think for your generation you will be confronted with the same challenges and issues.  Our relationship will be much larger, much deeper, more and more people going back and forth, but you will be confronted with these very challenges.  How do you deal with cycles?  How deep do you want the cycles to go?  What kind of problem solving are you willing to engage in to make the relationship the very best it can be?

Thank you.  [Applause].

Moderator:  Remember the Ambassador’s remarks.  Apply that to your future relationships, romantic relationships, professional relationships.

Last question, probably.

Question:  Good morning, Ambassador.  Thank you for the lecture and [inaudible] Professor Sun and [inaudible] Tsinghua Research Center on Sino-U.S. Relations.

My question is have you ever been to the poorest areas of China?  And how do you feel when you see the poor areas and the people there?  And do you still think China is so powerful and growing so rapidly at the [inaudible]?  Thank you.

Ambassador Huntsman:  That’s a very good question, and I appreciate your raising that because many people when they visit from the United States, they see Beijing or Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Hong Kong.  They don’t get inland toward the center of the country to see where 900 million to 1 billion people live.

I try to get out to every corner of the country.  I was in Tianjin recently, I was in Zhengzhou just before that, I was in Wuhan not long ago.  My daughter is from outside of the big cities.  I have seen rural China through her eyes.  My other daughter is from rural India, and I’ve seen rural India through her eyes.  It makes me think that there are powerful issues between the United States and China that we should be focused on, like how you address rural health care; how you bring health care to people, and we have our challenges in the United States.  The biggest debate right now in politics is on health care, how you reform it, how you take the costs out, how you make it more transparent.

I was reminded as with my visit to Zhengzhou, the tuberculosis clinic, the research clinic that we’re [partnering on], the United States and China.  I visited that clinic and I met the doctors.  I even met a patient or two.  I thought the United States and China could be the most powerful force for addressing the human condition, improving the human condition, by bringing our brain power together and tackling human disease, and addressing health care deficiencies.  Can you imagine how powerful the research would be between the United States and China if we were to say we’re tired of squabbling over a trade case, let’s go cure cancer, let’s go find a cure for cancer?  Let’s find a cure for diabetes, which my daughter suffers from, or some other health care issue like tuberculosis, which in Hunan, in the Zhengzhou area has a very high incidence rate.

I’m here to tell you that we’re just beginning in the U.S.-China relationship to probe the truly important issues that matter most to people.  The political issues are not the issues that people talk to me about when I go out to the rural areas.  The people out in the rural areas don’t come up and want to talk to me about the issues that we’ve already talked about.  They want to talk about the issues that are close to their village.  They want to talk about my daughter.  And I realize what a big heart so many people have in China when I go out to the cities.  They don’t want to talk to the Ambassador.  I’m the father of (Gracie Mei), my daughter from China.  They want to talk about my daughter because it’s a human communication.  People carry these heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind conversations.  So when I go out to the areas you’re describing I often think how much more we have to do, both of our countries, on the issues that are perhaps the most important to both people – conquering human disease, figuring out how to deliver health care into the rural areas, and bringing up standards of living so that people have economic opportunity, most importantly, and can determine their destiny and their future based upon that.

So I would hope that in your generation as you finish your schooling and as you look at your professional career – and I always tell our friends in the Embassy, we all have a title and we all have responsibilities, but in the end we should see our job as improving the human condition because that leaves the kind of legacy that matters most to people. 

So I hope that as you go up through your career ranks you always ask the question, how can we improve the human condition?  How can we bring a higher standard of living, transparency, fairness, participation in local politics or national politics, to the work that you do?  Because in the end those will be the most important aspects in transforming not only China but, as we work on these very issues in my country, in making us the very best we can be.  They will be the most meaningful longer term.

I’m reminded of that need as I visit the rural areas, which I always enjoy doing.  Thank you for raising the question.

Thank you all very much.

Moderator:  We don’t have more time, but I’m sure Ambassador Huntsman will come back to Tsinghua in the future.

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