China

CRITICAL NEED FOR TALKS

Steven Weber
Professor of political science; Director of the Institute of International Studies
Office: (510) 642-8739Cell: (510) 928-0657
E-mail: steve_weber@berkeley.edu
Additional contact: Janet Gilmore, Media Relations: (510) 642-5685, jangilmore@berkeley.edu

Background: Weber's expertise includes international relations, national security, international business and the information economy. He has held academic fellowships with the Council on Foreign Relations, served as special consultant to the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, and worked with the U.S. State Department and other government agencies on foreign policy issues, risk analysis and forecasting. Weber is a long time consultant on global political economy issues for Global Business Network, a member of the Monitor Group.

Weber warns that conflicts between the two superpowers over currency, energy and property rights urgently need to be resolved. He recommends a deeper bi-lateral dialogue between the U.S. and China that is aimed at understanding one another's vital interests. Weber says governments have too many conflicting incentives for this, while universities lack the requisite urgency and concrete interests. Instead, he says, American companies should lead the charge because they have the most to gain, and to lose. If the problems are not solved, says Weber, America risks recession and stagflation, while China risks revolution. Additional background

SOCIAL ISSUES

Xin Liu
Professor of anthropology
Phone: (510) 642-0705
E-mail: xinliu@sscl.berkeley.edu
Expertise: Social/cultural anthropology. His main interests are contemporary China and social theory.

MONETARY EXCHANGE RATES

Andrew Rose
Bernard T. Rocca Jr. Professor of International Trade and director of the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy at the Haas School of Business
Phone: (510) 642-6609
E-mail: arose@haas.berkeley.edu
Expertise: International trade patterns, currency crises, determining monetary exchange rates, and banking and exchange crises in developing countries.

Rose predicts that the Chinese will eventually revalue the yuan, but not for years, and that "no matter what, the dollar is headed for a big fall."

TENSIONS WITH JAPAN, CHINESE NATIONALISM, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND CENSORSHIP

Xiao Qiang
Director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at the Graduate School of Journalism and chief editor of China Digital Times
Office phone: (510) 643-7034
Cell phone: (510) 206-2351
E-mail: xiao@berkeley.edu
Expertise: Xiao earned a B.S. from the University of Science and Technology in China and studied astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame from 1986-1989. He became a full-time human rights activist after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Xiao was executive director of the Human Rights in China organization from 1991-2002. He is teaching classes on China and human rights and participatory media and is researching the intersection of China's democratic transition, technology and media, as well as Internet censorship