The Center for China-U.S. Relations of Tsinghua University held the second "China-U.S. High-Ranking Officials Training Course" from April 21 to April 28, and 12 high-level administrative officers from the United States' Department of State, Ministry of National Defense, Department of Homeland Security and Department of the Navy came to China to receive training.
The course so far had been held twice. 17 U.S. government officials attended the first training course in 2010.
The only requirement is that the trainees must be high-ranking officials of the United States, said Sun Zhe, director of Center for China-U.S. Relations who is in charge of the training course.
Sun said that according to prior understanding of the course, the training course mainly includes the great strategy of China, the political system of China, international political change and the China-U.S. relations, China's military modernization, military and defense policy, foreign policy, economic and trade policies, energy security and policy decision-making. The teachers give lessons in English so as to ensure a timely and smooth communication.
There are two professors for the training course, Zhang Jian, associate professor of School of Government under Peking University, and Xue Lan, Dean of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University.
Sun said that the lessons are different from the traditional unilateral publicity and we will give consideration to objectivity, academic nature and effectiveness when introducing the basic situation of China to avoid leaving the wrong impression of brainwashing the officials.
When designing the courses, the university focuses on the issues that everybody is concerned about. Contents concerning internal affairs, military and media are included, said Sun. An honest exchange will be rewarded. If they can think over China's needs and feelings when they make a decision, it will be conductive to the development of China-U.S. relations and benefit the two peoples.
Think tanks play an important role in the contacts between the major powers. As a combination of power and knowledge, the think tank plays a special role in Sino-US exchanges, said Sun. They are the "plumbers" of the Sino-US relations and do work in advance and build a communication platform before the "blockage of sewer" caused by the storm. Sun hopes that the U.S. officials can recall how Chinese people think when they made a decision and try to avoid wrong decisions.
"In the near future, if the U.S. officials who attend the training can keep in mind the Chinese scholars and reporters who discuss with them issues with Chinese people when making policies, we will achieve the effect we desired," said Sun.
