Strait Talk

US applications for Strait Talk Berkeley-San Francisco 2012 are now available.

Note: Applicants must be at least freshmen in college. Also, check out our new facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StraitTalkBerkeley !

China applicants: please download the  Strait Talk 2012 PRC Application. Completed applications should be emailed to StraitTalk.Berkeley.CN@gmail.com by Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 23:59 Beijing time. You will receive a notification once your application is received. If you do not receive such notification or if you have any other questions/concerns, please email kevin.c.liu@berkeley.edu.

Taiwan applicants: please download the  Strait Talk 2012 ROC Application. Completed applications should be emailed to StraitTalk.Berkeley.TW@gmail.com by Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 23:59 Taipei time. You will receive a notification once your application is received. If you do not receive such notification or if you have any other questions/concerns, please email kevin.c.liu@berkeley.edu.

US applicants: please download the Strait Talk 2012 US Application. Completed applications should be emailed to straittalk.berkeley@gmail.com by February 20th, 2012 at 23:59 PST. You will receive a notification once your application is received. If you do not receive such notification or if you have any other questions/concerns, please email kevin.c.liu@berkeley.edu.

Mediated Perceptions: Cross-Strait Relations through the Lens

In a world of instantaneous news updates and widespread use of both new and older forms of media, it has become critically important to understand the interplay between the media and international affairs. This relationship is especially important and relevant to the Taiwan Strait conflict, as China and Taiwan have what are ranked, respectively, among the most censored and the freest media in the world. In this panel, we will explore such questions as: How is the cross-Strait conflict portrayed differently in Chinese, Taiwanese and American media and journalism? How has that representation changed over time? What are the underlying assumptions and motivations, as well as the economic, political and social repercussions, of media discourse on the Taiwan Strait issue? Our speakers include Professor Xiguang Li (Tsinghua Univeristy, Taipei) and Dr. Randolph Kluver (Texas A&M U.), and our moderator is Dr. Tatsushi Arai (SIT Graduate Institute)

Innovating Forward: Entrepreneurial Activity in Mainland China and Taiwan

Entrepreneurs encounter numerous challenges and obstacles when crossing the politically charged and legally ambiguous boundary between China and Taiwan. Nevertheless, many opportunities exist for entrepreneurs working in and across the two regions. In this panel, we will explore the opportunities for collaboration between mainland China and Taiwan that exist in the Internet, financial services, biomedical, energy and electronics industries. This panel will also look at the importance of direct investment and trade as a means of improving cross-Strait relations, in addition to the role entrepreneurial activity can play in bridging the cross-Strait divide and recent developments that provide more prospects for a strengthening of cross-Strait relations. Our speakers include Dr. Kuan-Tsae Huang (CEO of NanoTune Technologies) and Drew Mason (co-founder and Managing Partner of Jade Capital Management, LLC), and our moderator is Professor Barrett Hazeltine (Brown).

Museums and Official Historical Narratives: Broadening or Bridging the Gulf in Cross-Strait Understanding?

The past twenty years have witnessed expansion and growing sophistication in the museums sector on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. This presentation will consider how these changes have affected the portrayal of the societies on either side of the Taiwan Strait, and of the historical relationship between them. It will also discuss possible implications of the shifts in the official narrative on either side for the future of cross-Strait relations. These issues will be explored through an examination of what has and has not changed in official narratives, with particular attention to the following themes: defining “the nation”, how “foreign” societies are represented, museum narratives of the national past, and tourism’s role in the cross-Strait issue. Professor Edward Vickers (U. of London) will be our guest speaker; introduction by Professor Emily Stokes-Rees (Brown).

The Theory Behind the Conflict: Nationalism Across the Strait

Political theory offers approaches to investigate and understand foreign politics and international relations. In this panel, we seek to understand the concept of “nationalism” and how it applies to the Taiwan Strait conflict. What does “nationalism” mean in mainland China and Taiwan? How different are the two sides’ interpretations of this terminology and are these differences inherent or irreconcilable? We will break down the concept of nationalism and explore the historical forces driving the concept of nationalism and the impact that has had on cross-Strait relations, in addition to how the use of the term has changed over time and what the repercussions are for its use today. Professor Suisheng Zhao (U. of Denver) and Mau-Kuei Chang (Academia Sinica in Taipei) will be our guest panelists, and Professor Kerry Smith (Brown) will be moderating.

Final Presentation of the Strait Talk Symposium to the Brown Community

Strait Talk was founded on the principle that young people really do have the power and ability needed to create change on a global scale. After a week of intensive interactive conflict resolution dialogue, panels by experts on how media, entrepreneurship, museums, and political theory relate to and influence Mainland China-Taiwan-US relations — and significant interpersonal bonding and networking — all of our delegates will present the Consensus Document that they have created. The Consensus Document outlines actionable steps towards a tangible solution to the cross-Strait issue and is a document whose every single word all 15 delegates from Mainland China, Taiwan and the US agree upon. Come join our delegates as they present their recommendations for the future of the Taiwan Strait to the Brown Community, the day before they present it to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

The following speakers will be participating in public events hosted by the 2011 Strait Talk Symposium. Members of the Brown community and the general public are welcome to come hear these experts share their knowledge on various topics relating to the Taiwan Strait issue.

Mediated Perceptions: Cross-Strait Relations Through the Lens

Time: Saturday, November 12, 6-7:30pm
Location: Kassar Fox Auditorium

Xiguang Li, Dean of Tsinghua University International Center for Communication Studies; Dean of the Chinese Academy of World Agendas of the Southwestern University of Political Science and Law, Member of the Experts Committee for Disease Control of the Ministry of Health, Member of the Experts Committee for Crisis Handling of the Ministry of Health, Vice-Chairman of the Jounalism Education Committee of the Ministry of Health, leading media advisor to the offce of the Minister of Education. Before he founded the journalism program of Tsinghua University, he was fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, senior editor and director of the political, cultural and science desk of Xinhua News Agency, Science and mediacal writer with the Washington Post, senior writer and deputy director of the political, cultural and science desk of Xinhua News Agency, Young Scholar of Unesco Silk Road Project，Chief science and medical writer of Xinhua News Agency. His latest books include  “Soft power and China Dream”, “Soft power and global communication”, “Intellectual Dialogues of Tibet”, “The future of jounalism education”, “News Reporting and Writring”. He has received a number of significant national and international awards for his pionieering work in health and journalism educaiton, including UNAIDS Awards for Outstanding Countribution to the Control of AIDS”, ”China’s Best Health Educator”, ” China’s Best Course of News Reporting and Writing”, “China Top 10 Educator”, etc. He writes a Weekly Column on the English newspaper Global Times.

Dr. Randolph Kluver is the Executive Director of the Institute for Pacific Asia and an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University.  Dr. Kluver is the co-founder and co-moderator of the Chinese Internet Research listserve, a mailing list that was identified by Foreign Policy magazine as a “website changing the world.” He does research in international communication and the political and geopolitical impact of new media technologies.

Moderator:

Dr. Tatsushi Arai, the ICR facilitator for the Brown University Strait Talk Symposium, is Associate Professor of Conflict Transformation at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute. He is a veteran of numerous conflict resolution workshops and instruction programs in different regions, having also led workshops for government personnel, international organizations and civil society leaders worldwide. He is returning to Strait Talk for the seventh year. Dr. Arai is also a research fellow of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, an advisor to Global Majority, and a member of TRANSCEND.

Innovating Forward: Entrepreneurial Activity in Mainland China and Taiwan

Time: Monday, November 14, 4-5:30pm
Location: MacMillan 115

Dr. Kuan-Tsae Huang is the CEO of NanoTuneTechnologies, Adjunct Professor at Fordham University and Research Affiliate of the MIT Information Quality Program, Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development (CTPID), and co-author of Quality Information and Knowledge. Throughout his career, his has been a recipient of the Illinois Fellowship, the IBM Corporate Excellence Award, the Gold Medal of Giga Information Award and the NLM Excellence Award.  Formerly, Dr. Huang was the Chairman and CEO of Taskco Corporation and Vice President of IBM e-Commerce Implementation. He was integral in leading IBM’s e-business transformation and implementation, which many global corporations today use as a model. Dr. Huang also led the integration of knowledge management and object asset reuse into IBM Global Services, as well as working as a manager at the IBM Watson Research Center.  Additionally, he has worked as Senior Consultant at the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health and provided strategy consulting services to enterprises and the US, Singaporean, Taiwanese, Korean and Chinese governments.

Drew Mason is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Jade Capital Management LLC, a leading provider of venture and growth capital for top entrepreneurs in China’s financial services sector. Mr. Mason is also one of the founding members of Sohu.com, one of the first Chinese companies to list on NADAQ, and China Risk Finance LLC, China’s leading consumer finance solutions provider voted Private Equity International’s Venture Capital deal of the year in 2007. Mr. Mason was formerly the head of investment banking for the technology sector in Asia Pacific for UBS Warburg, where he worked on Asia’s M&A deal of the year in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Mr. Mason’s operating experience includes serving as an intelligence officer during Operation Desert Storm for the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Mr. Mason is on the board of China Risk Finance LLC, Shanghai Harvest Network Ltd. and a member of the President of Brown University’s China Council.

Museums and Official Historical Narratives: Broadening or Bridging the Gulf in Cross-Strait Understanding?

Time: Monday, November 14^th, 7-8:30pm
Location: Smith-Buonanno 106

Edward Vickers is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of London. He holds extensive experience in education in Hong Kong and Beijing, and is particularly interested in national identity in Chinese societies (mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), comparative history of colonial education, and history museums. He has done collaborative work “examining the ways in which museums in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Singapore represent the relationship between local and broader ‘Chinese’ identities.” Vickers is also a member of the Executive of London Association of Taiwan Studies and is the Reviews editor for the on-line journal ‘Taiwan in Comparative Perspective’. Vickers holds a M.A. and Ph.D. from Oxford University.

The Theory Behind the Conflict: Nationalism Across the Strait

Time: Tuesday, November 15, 6-7:30pm
Location: Smith-Buonanno 201

Suisheng Zhao is a professor at the University of Denver, Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Zhao also holds the position of Executive Director at the Center for China-US Cooperation, and founded and edits for the Journal of Contemporary China. He has accomplished work as a scholar at several renowned institutions, including the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Beijing University, and Harvard University. Zhao specializes in contemporary Chinese politics, modern Chinese nationalism, and US-China relations. He received his M.A. degree in economics from Peking University, his M.A. degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California – San Diego.

Mau-Kuei Chang is a research fellow at Academia Sinica, a research institute based in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a sociologist specializing in political sociology, ethnic relations and nationalism and social movements. He received a Bachelor of Law degree from Taiwan University and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Perdue University. His current research interests include social and political movements in Taiwan as well as nationalism and identity politics of Taiwan. A recipient of numerous awards, including a Fulbright visiting scholar position and distinguished achievement award from the National Science Council of Taiwan, Mr. Chang also holds positions including book review editor of China Information, external examiner at the Hong Kong Government Research Council and editor-in-chief of the Taiwan Sociological Review.