By: Kenzie Smith, Staff Writer
On Thursday, the Eisenhower Institute held a private meeting with Chinese Deputy Consul General Jin Qian. A small group of faculty, staff, and students attended this meeting. Qian was excited to hear the questions of the students as well as share his insights.
Before the arrival of Chinese Deputy Consul General Jin Qian, Eisenhower Institute Assistant Director Kevin Lavery made a few announcements. Lavery reminded everyone to engage in a respectful way, emphasizing that this was supposed to be a productive meeting.
“[This is to] enhance our understanding of different perspectives and issues,” Lavery said.
After the arrival of the Deputy Consul General and his colleagues, Eisenhower Institute Executive Director Tracie Potts thanked everyone for coming.
“We at the Eisenhower Institute really like to provide the opportunity to have foreign exchanges, to learn to ask questions,” Potts said.
Quian began by describing his position and what his job entails, focusing on creating a better connection between the United States and China.
“The main purpose for us to be here is to get to know the country and people,” Qian said.
Qian explained that it was his first time in Gettysburg, but he was very excited to be present.
Qian’s colleagues, Consul Jingzhi Feng and Vice Consul Xiaoxi Hao, gave brief introductions following his opening remarks.
Potts asked the Gettysburg faculty, staff, and students to introduce themselves, including where they are from, their major, and what drew them to attend this event.
Qian gave a more in-depth description of his work, including the jobs he held before his current position. Qian also discussed how he has seen many changes over time, especially with the increasing number of news articles about China. While he could not refute all the headlines about China, Qian noted that there is a heavy negative imbalance in the reports.
“[I want to] help the two countries: China and the United States to better understand each other,” Qian said.
Qian said he feels there is a dangerous misrepresentation between the United States and China. He highlighted that he thinks the relationship between the two countries needs to be based on mutual respect.
“[The] whole world looks to China and United States to work together to benefit the whole world,” Qian said.
A question was posed by one of the attendees about how political differences challenge economic cooperations.
“The political relations do have negative influences on the economics,” Qian answered.
Qian discussed recent challenges like the pandemic and the tariffs put on China by the Trump Administration. He explained how these aspects have hurt both countries.
“[The] two sides are very interdependent to each other,” Qian noted.
Qian understands the differences between the countries but does not believe these differences should hinder relations.
“…We can work beyond our differences to seek common ground,” Qian said.
Qian mentioned this year being the 50th anniversary of Nixon visiting China. “We knew we were different countries [then], but we still worked together.”
Qian explained that the United States and China are different countries and cannot change each other. He referenced a famous phrase of Confucius: “he er butong,” which translates to “harmony without uniformity” in English. Qian believes both countries need to work on having “harmony without uniformity.”
“We cannot change each other,” Qian said. “We have to respect each other’s core interests.”
This statement sparked a question from Eisenhower Institute Executive Director Tracie Potts. “Do we have a good understanding of each other’s core interests?” Potts asked.
Qian responded that he believes both countries want to create a good life for their citizens, but the United States has an incorrect view of what the Communist Party of China is. Qian discussed the improvements that have occurred for the citizens of China since the emergence of the Communist Party.
Qian transitioned into talking about his interest in traveling to different parts of the United States to learn more about the history. Before coming to this meeting, Qian visited the battlefields and museum in Gettysburg.
“[I was] very touched when I saw the video in the museum about the civil war,” Qian said.
This battle that happened on American soil reminded Qian of the issue between unifying Taiwan and China. Qian said that, legitimately speaking, Taiwan is still viewed as a part of China.
“We want peace. Chinese don’t want to fight Chinese,” Qian said, “We want a peaceful reunification of China.”
A student inquired, in regard to Qian’s standing as a diplomat, if the differences of the United States’ democratic and republican parties are as big to China as they are to United States citizens.
Qian replied that although the parties have different policies regarding China, they are still very similar. Qian explained that the last administration of the United States caused a lot of damage to the relationship between the United States and China, but the new administration did not fix any of this damage.
“To our disappointment, the Biden Administration didn’t change much,” Qian said.
Qian feels there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding between the United States and China due to the constant changes of the countries. Many Chinese citizens believe the United States meddles in issues that only concern China.
“China deserves the right to develop,” Qian said.
Another student asked Qian how he thinks the United States and China understand each other’s perspectives on Xinjiang.
Qian replied that a fake narrative is being spread in mainstream media. He explained that although the word “genocide” is being used to describe the situation, the population has increased in the past thirty to fourty years.
History Professor William D. Bowman asked how China and the United States hope to take up the climate crisis as a global challenge together if they do come together.
“We need to share responsibilities,” Qian answered.
October 10, 2022
Quite frankly this is event has started to make me ashamed to be a Gettysburg grad. Inviting the ambassador of what is quite frankly a hostile nation engaged in genocide, political repression and warmongering is shameful enough. To then not challenge them on any of the blatantly false and propagandistic statements they made is just embarrassing to the institution. Shame on the Gettysburgian for parroting the talking points of this clown. I know the College is struggling at the moment but inviting ambassadors to engage in unchallenged genocide denial in an attempt to make our programs look better is just laughable. I sincerely hope such a farce is never repeated.
October 10, 2022
While dialogue with other countries, especially those we consider vastly different from ours, is immensely important, I am disappointed by the lack of facts in this article undermining the claims of The Chinese Deputy Counsel. Certainly we can have a dialogue without failing to note the ongoing persecution of minorities and silencing of dissent in China. Discussion and being able to criticize all ideas is the hallmark of a liberal arts education, and I wish the Gettysburgian displayed more of a searching criticism here instead of just repeating claims approaching outright falsehoods.
October 10, 2022
I was not in attendance, but the way this article is written makes Gettysburg look horrible.
First, Gettysburg (through EI) invites this communist stooge to come up and spew lies and nobody confronts him with the truth. And then the Gettysburgian prints his propagandistic drivel, including how he “explained” away the concentration camps, without including any fact checking or context? And at no point does anybody see the problem here?
They should drop us down another rank just for this. What an embarrassment.
October 10, 2022
I have to say that I’m extremely disappointed in Gettysburg for this. The school claims they are continually making efforts to defend human rights and liberties and then allow Chinese Communist Party propaganda to go unchallenged. Freedom of speech is paramount to a good education, and we should be weary of barring any speaker’s ability to share their knowledge on campus, but parroting the talking points of a hostile nation that strips its own citizens of these same rights and liberties is a slap in the face to Gettysburg’s expressed morals. One hopes Gettysburg can correct its course before the hypocrisy stains its foundation.
October 10, 2022
From the reporting in this article, it appears that Gettysburg College provided an agent of the Chinese Communist Party an opportunity to the party’s propaganda.
Apparently, the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs, the brutal overthrow of the right of Hong Kongers to democratic government, a literally Orwellian surveillance-state, and threats to invade Taiwan and destroy the legitimate government of the Republic of China, are not disqualifying.
It appears that Gettysburg College can no longer be counted on to challenge Totalitarianism, Repression, and Crimes Against Humanity, but invites an apologist for such actions and provides a venue for the obfuscation of such actions.
October 10, 2022
From the reporting in this article, it appears that Gettysburg College provided an agent of the Chinese Communist Party an opportunity to promote CCP propaganda.
Apparently, the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs, the brutal overthrow of the right of Hong Kongers to democratic government, a literally Orwellian surveillance-state, and threats to invade Taiwan and destroy the legitimate government of the Republic of China, are not disqualifying.
It appears that Gettysburg College can no longer be counted on to challenge Totalitarianism, Repression, and Crimes Against Humanity, but invites an apologist for such actions and provides a venue for the obfuscation of such actions.
October 11, 2022
I can see how there is educational benefit for students to converse with foreign diplomats. Likewise, I would take great umbrage should Gettysburg College disinvite speakers just because they are controversial. I am however disappointed that there was no apparent pushback from people present at this event to the propaganda regarding Taiwanese independence or the denial of ongoing human rights violations in Xinjiang. A free exchange of ideas necessitates active debate and discourse. I sincerely hope that the college did not chill any possible discussion before this event so as to not inhibit a scripted performance.
October 14, 2022
Misunderstanding precipitates prejudice. Communication bridges differences. It is the founding principle of the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College to engage diverse people and ideas, find common ground and take action.
One should be proud to see the College’s endeavor to push for understanding among people from different political views and cultural backgrounds. Before hasting into a judgment, we should strive to be well-informed, at least by being open to a differing voice. It is such a rare opportunity for the college community to hear first-hand from an incumbent senior Chinese diplomat instead of unwarranted claims and reports of our own politicians and journalists, most of whom have never visited China in person.
I appreciate the Gettysburg College’s efforts to establish a communicative channel for students. It will truly become a post-truth society shrouded within an information cocoon if there is one voice, and one voice only.