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Harvard Shared Visions Program
The Harvard Shared Visions Program, which is sponsored by the Foundation, has brought together more than 20 distinguished scholars from China and the U.S. to exchange views on key issues impacting the China-U.S. bilateral relationship.
Sharing a common view that China and the U.S. should work together to further bilateral exchange and mutual cooperation, given the many areas of common strategic interest between the two countries, the scholars will work together to publish papers to identify the differences in opinions and common areas of interest of the two nations.
The papers will explore a range of issues, all of which have significant impact on the bilateral relationship and that have significant potential in further enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries. The subjects of these papers will range from current diplomatic relations to social and economic trends, defense, cultural, historical and political interactions and climate change, and among other topics.
Scholars participating in the program come from such institutions as Harvard University, Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. They met in Hong Kong in March 2007, in Beijing in December 2007 and again in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February 2008. Opinion papers resulting from these dialogues are expected to be published in early 2009.
Tsing Hua University and the Council on Foreign Relations Climate Change Study Program
With the U.S. and China together producing roughly one-third of the world’s carbon emissions, the issue of climate change has become a major area of common interest between the two countries. In partnership with organizations in China and the U.S., the Foundation is undertaking a number of academic and research initiatives to help foster greater cooperation between the two countries in tackling this global challenge.
One such initiative, which seeks to help China and the U.S. identify areas of agreement and difference on the issue of climate change and to explore opportunities to expand cooperation in this area, is the Foundation’s support for Tsinghua University in a project that it is undertaking with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Under the program, the CFR taskforce held a series of meetings with Chinese officials in Beijing this February to discuss climate change issues. Following the meetings, the CFR also hosted a symposium on climate change in New York in June, bringing together leading climate experts in China to exchange insights on the subject.
Michael Levi, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the CFR, applauded the joint efforts of experts from the two countries in addressing this global issue. He said, “The symposium was a real success. It succeeded in greatly raising the level of understanding of the Chinese approach to climate change among a very high-level group of experts and others who will have real influence on the subject. Participants found it quite refreshing to have a real range of on-the-ground perspectives and expertise.”
The CFR taskforce incorporated findings from the Beijing visit into a world report on global warming, which was published earlier this year and discussed at the symposium.
Research on Global Warming by the Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, with the support of the Foundation, is currently conducting a research project to examine the perspectives of Chinese and American political, technological, business and opinion leaders on the issue of climate change.
Professor Kenneth Lieberthal of the University of Michigan and Mr. David B. Sandalow, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, are interviewing key figures and will publish a monograph that provides insight into relevant political, economic and social aspects of climate change issues in China and the U.S. The objective of the research initiative is to identify how best to reduce the political obstacles to achieving large-scale cooperation on climate change between the two countries.
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