Participants at the Public Symposium on China's Future Diplomacy.

THE LECTURE

Professor Hugh White , BA(Hons) (Mel), BPhil(Oxon) is Professor of Strategic Studies and Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at The Australian National University, and Visiting Fellow, Lowy Institute of International Policy. Before taking up this position he was the first Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Professor White has worked in strategic policy and related fields for two decades. He has served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald , and as a senior adviser on the staff of Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

Dr. QIN Yaqing, is Executive Vice President and Professor of International Studies of China Foreign Affairs University; Vice-president of China National Association for International Studies; Executive Deputy Director and Secretary-general of East Asian Studies Center of CFAU. He has a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA and received training in international economy at the Antwerp University, Belgium. As a leading scholar in the field of International

Dr. Qin Yaqing addressing participants of the China's Future Diplomacy Symposium.

Relations in China , Dr. Qin has published extensively. He was on the resource team for the UN High Panel for Challenges, Threats, and Changes (2003) and worked as Special Assistant to the Chinese Eminent Person, China-ASEAN Eminent Persons Group (2005).

This symposium was an opportunity for the general public, the Canberra diplomatic, academic, policy and business communities to learn about China 's possible future directions in diplomacy through the viewpoints of two respected Chinese and Australian scholars.

The symposium is part of a broader research project being co-hosted by Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at The Australian National University and the Chinese Foreign Affairs University in Beijing .

The impetus for the project and the symposium is the observation that although the nature of China's future international relations and foreign polices is now the subject of considerable debate among academics, officials and much of the public there is not the same robust exchange about the nature of China's future diplomacy. There is in general a gap in our English language literature about the means China will use for

Professor Hugh White (the Australian National University) addressing participants of the China's Future Diplomacy Symposium.

implementing, representing and communicating its international policies in the future - notwithstanding some recent analyses of contemporary Chinese diplomatic activity.

This gap seems at odds with the fact that every state in the Asia-Pacific region is increasing its interactions with China and as a result it is imperative that China 's modus operandi be understood, misperceptions be avoided, and genuine differences be acknowledged in constructive ways.