LUNCHEON TALK : US - CHINA RELATIONS : IT

Mr. David Bruce Shear, Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Kuala Lumpur

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) City Campus series of eminent persons Luncheon Talk was recently held on the March 13, 2006. The guest speaker was Mr. David Shear, the Deputy Chief of Mission from the United States Embassy, Kuala Lumpur.

Mr. Shear is considered as a Chinese affair expert since he has served extensively in the Far East region. He will be ending his tour of duty in Kuala lumpur soon and will continue handling the China affair at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. The talk is aptly titled, US-China Relations: Its Implication To Asean.

Mr. Shear who has served in Beijing, Tokyo and Sapporo touched in great length the rising power of China, India, Japan and United States in South East Asia region. There seem to be tug-of-war between US and China to stamp their influence in most of Asean nations.

Mr Shear did also touch on how critical is the peace and stability factor for any country to enjoy economic prosperity. He gave the example of Penang where multi national companies felt at ease setting up their business.

Gauging from the 60 plus audience and Mr Shear interaction during the dialog session, it can be said that the main objective of the talk to simulate intelectual discussion between the apeaker and the audience has been achieved.

The exchanged of ideas between UTM City Campus staff and Mr Shear becomes more significant since the Deputy Chief of Mission will be ending his stint in Kuala Lumpur for a new posting at the US State Department currently headed by State Secretary Condoleeza Rice.

The Luncheon Talk shows that even though majority of the UTM City Campus staff are from the engineering and technology background, they are not isolated from the everyday happenings of the world affairs, be it for the Palestinian issues or the Darfur conflict as the saying goes, good diplomacy is becoming more dependent on good science and technology.

 

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