Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.
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Dean of Peking’s School of International Studies, Wang Jisi, spent the day before advising President Hu concerning his upcoming visit with President Bush. He then flew to San Francisco to attend the Committee of 100 Annual Conference.
At a panel discussion, Dr. Wang fielded one of my questions –
I asked him if the anti-Japanese protests in China last year were staged by the Chinese government AND if China was worried about anti-Japanese sentiment resulting in better ties between Taiwan and Japan thus resulting in a tilt in the current delicate balance between China and Taiwan.
He said that the government did NOT stage the protests. (I expected that answer). Then he said that more immediate steps should have been taken to quell the uprising so as to not inflame xenophobia. ( I didn’t expect him to admit the government didn’t act quickly enough.)
He went on to say that an open economy in China depends on foreign trade.
He also said that real feelings have real consequences and the Japanese prime minister’s continual visits to respect the war dead hurts the relationship between China and Japan.
One last thing he urged from Japan, generally more sympathetic to Taiwan, to be more unified and consistent in its views toward Taiwan. The US is clear but Japan is not.
I felt that his answer was clear and candid and void of diplomatic doublespeak.
The US, China, Taiwan and Japan need to get along.
