Asia Society China Forum at the Beijing Olympics
August 2008

DISCUSSION LEADERS

Asia Society will draw on its deep connections in China to provide participants with perspectives from some of the business, policy, and cultural leaders who shaping are China's present and future. A full list of discussion leaders for each session will be provided to confirmed Asia Society China Forum participants.

In addition to a faculty of China-based experts, a core leadership of the overall Asia Society China Forum will be provided by Vishakha Desai, Asia Society President; Robert Oxnam, President Emeritus; Orville Schell, Director of the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations; and Harry Harding, Professor of International Affairs from George Washington University—all internationally recognized scholars of Chinese and Asian affairs.

Vishakha N. Desai
President, Asia Society

Vishakha N. Desai is President and CEO of Asia Society, a global educational organization dedicated to deepening connections among the peoples of Asia and the United States. She sets the directions for the Society's diverse set of programs—in the areas of policy, business, arts, culture, and education—throughout the Society's network of centers in the US and in Asia. She is a frequent speaker and commentator in the media, addressing cultural, social, educational, business, and policy trends and their implications for the US-Asia relationship and Asian regional ties.

Appointed President in 2004, Dr. Desai conceptualized and presided over the organization's fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 2006, marked by high-profile activities and expansive fundraising initiatives. As a result of these efforts, the Society is expanding the scope and scale of its activities, particularly in Asia, including a new India Centre in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), which opened in 2006, and planned multi-million-dollar physical facilities in Hong Kong and Houston.

Prior to her appointment as President, Dr. Desai served as Asia Society's Senior Vice President and Director of the Museum and Cultural Programs. In this position, she managed the Society's $40 million renovation of its New York City headquarters. As Museum Director, Dr. Desai built an international reputation for introducing contemporary Asian art to a broad audience and using it to illuminate historical trends and their influence on the development of society. A scholar of classical Indian art, she has published numerous catalogues and scholarly articles and is widely recognized for conceiving innovative exhibitions of traditional Asian art within strong cultural contexts. She was also at the forefront of the Society's integration of Asian American issues into its public programming.

Prior to joining the Asia Society in 1990, Dr. Desai was a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She also taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston University, Columbia University, and Williams College.

Dr. Desai holds a B.A. in political science from Bombay University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan. The recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, Dr. Desai was awarded an honorary doctorate from Susquehanna University in 1996. She was also awarded the Asian American of the Year Award by the University of Massachusetts, and by Asian Americans for Equality, and is a recipient of the National Institute of Social Sciences Gold Medal.

Dr. Desai serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution, Citizens Committee for New York City, Asian University for Women, and the New York City Advisory Commission for Cultural Affairs. She served as the President of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) in 1998-99, and was on the Board from 1995-2000. She has also served on the Boards of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics), the South Asian Council of the Association of Asian Studies, the College Art Association, ArtTable, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.

Robert B. Oxnam
President Emeritus, Asia Society

Robert B. Oxnam was President of the Asia Society for over a decade (1981-92). Prior to his presidency, he served as the Society's Vice President and Washington Center Director (1979-81) and as China Council Director (1975-81).

In recent years, he has been Senior Advisor to a major wealth management firm, the Bessemer Trust Company, offering insights on the Asia/Pacific region. He often acts as lecturer for prominent Americans seeking in-depth knowledge of China, including Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) in 1995, and former President George Bush and Mrs. Bush in 1997. He has been Senior Advisor to the Atlanta-based Society of International Business Fellows and often accompanied their business leaders to various parts of Asia.

In the 1990s, Robert Oxnam was the Special Correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He was the on-air host and the author of an acclaimed nine-part special on China which aired on the NewsHour in 1993-1994.

Robert Oxnam is the author of two novels (both from St. Martin's Press): Cinnabar (1990), a mystery thriller on 20th-century China, and Ming (1995), a historical novel about 17th-century China. He has also authored or edited several non-fiction works on Asia: Ruling from Horseback (on the Manchu conquest of China); Dragon and Eagle (a comprehensive review of US-China relations); several editions of China Briefing (an annual review designed for businesspeople, journalists, and academics). He has contributed articles to the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and the Asian Wall Street Journal. In early 2003, he authored the cover story on Asian business for Competitive Edge magazine.

In 2003-06, he was a Visiting Professor at Beijing University and Global Scholar at Robinson College of Business (Georgia State University). He is a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Armand Erpf Fund. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Cosmos Club, the Century Association, the Association of Asian Studies, and the National Committee on US-China Relations.

He was educated at Williams College (B.A. 1964, Phi Beta Kappa) and Yale University (M.A. 1966, Ph.D., 1969). He taught at Trinity College (1969-75), Columbia University (1990s), and Williams College (Bernhard Professorship, 1995). His academic honors have included the Williams College Bicentennial Medal (1993) and the Trinity College LL.D. (1994). He is a member of the visiting committee of Drew University and American University's School of International Relations.

Harry Harding
Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University

Harry Harding is University Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University. In 2005-07, he was Director of Research and Analysis at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm headquartered in New York City. He remains a Counselor to Eurasia Group and Chair of its China Task Force, and also serves as a Visiting Fellow in the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society.

Dr. Harding was Dean of GW's Elliott School of International Affairs and Professor of International Affairs and Political Science (1995-2005). He previously served on the faculties of Swarthmore College (1970-71) and Stanford University (1971-83), directed the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1979-80), and was a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (1983-94). Dr. Harding received the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching from Stanford University in 1975.

Dr. Harding's major publications include The India-China Relationship: What the United States Needs to Know (co-edited with Francine Frankel, 2004); A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China Since 1972 (1992); Sino-American Relations, 1945-1955: A Joint Reassessment of a Critical Debate (co-edited with Yuan Ming, 1989); China's Second Revolution: Reform After Mao (1987); China's Foreign Relations in the 1980s (editor, 1984); and Organizing China: The Problem of Bureaucracy, 1949-1976 (1981).

Dr. Harding is a trustee of the Asia Foundation, a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations, and a director of the Atlantic Council of the United States. He has previously been a member of the US-PRC Joint Commission on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, a member of the Defense Policy Board, and president of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Dr. Harding received his B.A. in public and international affairs from Princeton, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Stanford.