 "Photo: Evan Andrews")
From College Station to Beijing, Texas A&M faculty and students make the 7,000-mile trip to participate in the China-U.S. Relations Conference Wednesday through Friday.
The conference series is designed to promote the countries' relationship and to help strengthen and expand academic and business collaborations.
This conference brings together political, business and academic leaders from around the globe to discuss security, energy and climate challenges as well as economic and trade relations.
"What we have tried to do is put together some main people - on both the Chinese side and U.S. side, both from the industry and the government - to address some of the issues in China and U.S. relationships," said Katherine Cantrell, International Programs Office program coordinator.
The theme of this year's conference, the fourth of its kind, is "Looking Ahead After 30 Years," celebrating the renewal of U.S. and Chinese relationships 30 years ago.
The conference is presented by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, George Bush School of Government and Public Service, the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and Texas A&M University.
"It is imperative that we do all we can to gain better understanding between the governmental, business, education and cultural leaders of our two countries, as well as by the general public, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation at all levels," said Interim President R. Bowen Loftin, who will be speaking at the conference.
Started in 2003, the conference happens every other year. Previous conferences have taken place at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Presidential Library Center on campus and in Washington, D.C.
The 2009 conference will be held at the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel. This is the second time it will be held in Beijing.
Attendees have the chance to hear presentations and keynote addresses by many major global players such as Zeng Peiyan, former vice premier of the People's Republic of China and Gen. Brent Scowcroft, former U.S. national security adviser and president of The Scowcroft Group.
In addition to these large general audience sessions, the conference will also present many smaller discussions called research roundtables to engage dialogue between the two countries and build strategic research collaborations.
The roundtables will be led by professors from A&M who have a research relationship with someone in China.
"The research roundtables offer an innovative way to establish partnerships and further international experiences for our faculty and students," said A&M Vice President for Research Jeffrey Seemann. "The discussions between Chinese and U.S. researchers provide a strong foundation for broadening and expanding mutual pursuits of research and scholarship."
Some of the roundtable issues include women and HIV in China, long-term disaster recovery and resilience, environmental pollution, China's foreign direct investment in the U.S. and sustainable future through bio-energy and biomass usage.
"This year we also have a very strong student component to the conference," Cantrell said.
Twenty students from Texas A&M, along with six students from other Big 12 universities, will participate in the conference.
Paired with 24 students from Chinese universities, the students will be doing behind-the-scenes work running the conference and take part in the lecture sessions. The students will be documenting the entire process with video cameras and blogging throughout the conference.
The student's stories and videos will be posted to the University News Web site, tamunews.tamu.edu.
Cantrell said the U.S. students, who arrived in China Friday, will be staying until Sunday, and will be gaining invaluable international experience rooming with the Chinese students. "It's a fabulous experience to get to know Chinese culture," Cantrell said. "The students will get to know the Chinese students on a personal level; it gives them a whole new understanding when you are living day to day and sharing a room with someone who is not from your culture."
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