Speaker Biographies

Saturday Foreign Policy Panel:
“China, the United States, and the World”

Ambassador James R. Lilley
Former United States Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (1989-91), U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (1986-1989), U.S. Ambassador to Taiwan (1982-1984), and Director of the U.S. Institute in Taiwan; Currently Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (Confirmed)

James R. Lilley served as the U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 1989 to 1991 and to the Republic of Korea from 1986 to 1989. He was appointed United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 1991 to 1993. Ambassador Lilley is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researches China, Taiwan, and Korea. He is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia. Ambassador Lilley was born in Maryland in 1935. He obtained his M.A. in international relations at George Washington University, and his B.A. at Yale University. In addition to working in clandestine operations for the Central Intelligence Agency for 25 years in China and elsewhere, Ambassador Lilley has served as National Intelligence Officer for China (1975-1978), Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (1982-1984), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs (1985-1986), and Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University (1991). Ambassador Lilley believes that “with the increasing strength of China—economic, military and political—most Asians believe that [the United States is] the only offset to that strength and & quietly, most of them would like very much for the United States to be forward deployed for the indefinite future.” Ambassador Lilley’s family has had ties to Asia since his father moved to the country to work for Standard Oil in 1916.

Professor John J. Mearsheimer
R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Co-Director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago. His major areas of teaching and research include international relations theory, national security policy, causes of great power conflict, and nationalism and war. Professor Mearsheimer is recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on the international relations theory of realism. He graduated from West Point in 1970 and served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer for five years. He later earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1980. Professor Mearsheimer has won several teaching awards, including the Clark Award for Distinguished Teacher at Cornell University (1977), the Quantrell Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Chicago (1985) and the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Award (1993-1994). He is the author of three books on security issues and international politics, Conventional Deterrence (1983), winner of the Edgar S. Furniss, Jr. Book Award, Liddell Hart and the Weight of History (1988), and The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001), winner of the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize. He has also written numerous articles and op-eds appearing in publications from International Security to The Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times. In his book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Professor Mearsheimer writes, “if China becomes an economic powerhouse it will almost certainly translate its economic might into military might.... The result would be an intense security competition between China and its rivals, with the ever-present danger of great-power war hanging over them. In short, China and the United States are destined to be adversaries as China’s power grows.” Professor Mearsheimer currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Ambassador Wu Jianmin
President of the China Foreign Affairs University, Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, and formerly China’s Ambassador to France (1998-2003), the United Nations in Geneva (1996-98), and the Netherlands (1991-94) (Confirmed)

Wu Jianmin currently serves as President of China Foreign Affairs University and President of China’s International Exhibitions Bureau. Now retired from the government, Ambassador Wu was one of China’s senior-most diplomats, serving as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and director of the Ministry’s Information Department, Ambassador to the Netherlands, Ambassador to France, and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland. Born on March 30, 1939 in Chongqing Municipality, Ambassador Wu graduated in 1959 from the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute’s Department of French and conducted postgraduate studies in translation and interpretation. In a recent speech, Ambassador Wu said that “China needs to explain its peaceful development to the outside world and prove it with action, thereby shrinking the market of ‘China Threat,’” a misconception of China that is the result of biases against China based on historical and economic perceptions. “East Asian countries share [a] high degree of economic dependence on U.S. investment and its market and they have huge common interest in boosting bilateral economic cooperation with the U.S.,” he explained. Ambassador Wu resides in Beijing, China.

Moderator
Professor Bruce Cumings
Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago (Confirmed)

Bruce Cumings is the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago. His field specialties include Modern Korean History, East Asian Political Economy, and International History. Professor Cumings’ teaching and research focuses on 20th century international history, U.S.-East Asian relations, East Asian political economy, modern Korean history, and American foreign relations. Professor Cumings received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1975. His publications include The Origins of the Korean War (2 volumes, 1990), War and Television (1993), Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History (1997), and Parallax Visions: American-East Asian Relations at the End of the Century (2002). He is currently completing a book titled Industrial Behemoth: The Northeast Asian Political Economy in the 20th Century, an exploration of the industrialization of East Asia, including China and Japan and the reactions of scholars and political leaders to this phenomenon. Professor Cumings has generally favored American engagement with China and been critical of American pressure against China. He writes his view in Parallax Visions that “a wise policy begins with...Western humility: we have shaken China enough as it is; we should do what little we can do to encourage a less dominant central government, the rule of law, and basic political rights for China’s citizens—without illusions that we will make much of a difference. The main theme in our relations with China should be a long period of economism that allows both peoples to discover a new relationship.” Professor Cumings currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.