Professor Wang Jisi is director and a senior researcher of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing. He is concurrently director of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Central Committee, the Communist Party of China, a guest professor of Peking University and Tsinghua University, and president of the Chinese Association for American Studies. He is also a member and advisor to many prestigious research institutions in the United States. He is now teaching a course on "China Under Reform" for the fall semester, 2001, as a Freeman Professor of Asian Studies at Claremont McKenna College in California. Wang Jisi's formal education was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. In the ten years between 1968 and 1978 he did various sorts of labor as a herdsman, peasant, and factory worker in Inner Mongolia and central China. He entered Peking University in 1978 and obtained his MA degree in 1983. Professor Wang's scholarly interests cover international relations theory, U.S. foreign policy, Chinese foreign policy, and China-U.S. relations. He has published numerous works in these fields, including a recent volume in Chinese entitled "Lonely at the Top: U.S. Global Strategy and Position in the Post-Cold War World." His articles in English include "Building a Constructive Relationship between the United States, China, and Japan" (1998), "China's New Identity and Peace in Northeast Asia" (2000), "The Internet in China: A New Fantasy?" (2000), and "Hot Peace - Not a New Cold War - between China and the United States" (2001).

The emergence of global information society changes the nature of the relationship between society, knowledge, and technology. This affects in a fundamental way the role of ICTs (Information and Communication Technology) for the distribution of knowledge, the development of network economies, networks of social innovation and networks of co-development. Knowledge networking is seen here in terms of creating cross-cultural alliances among the university, enterprise, and the media, through creating symbiotic relationships between local and global knowledge resources. The focus is on promoting a culture of shared communication, values and knowledge, seeking cooperation through valorization of diversity, social cohesion and subsidiarity. This focus is informed by the human centered vision of Information Society, which moves the digital divide discourse beyond the technocentric agenda toward a human centered agenda that recognizes the purpose of ICT as promoter of social cohesion in which shared communication and shared knowledge drive cohesion, and cohesion generates shared communication and an increase in shared knowledge. The discussion will be illustrated by an example of the European - India Cross Cultural Innovation Network, a unique project of the European Commission that promotes cross-cultural cooperation, action research and knowledge networking.

Four months into Megawati Sukarnoputri's presidency, many of the same ills continue to plague Indonesia Ð economic and legal reforms are at a standstill, corruption is rampant and Indonesia's 220 million still lack the democratic freedoms promised when Suharto stepped down three years ago. Home to the world's largest Muslim population, Indonesia, as much as or more than Pakistan, is subject to serious destablization in light of the events of September 11th and October 7th. Please join us for a timely and informative briefing on the current political, economic and social situation in Indonesia today.

Indonesian poet, essayist and journalist Goenawan Mohamad is the former editor of Tempo, the weekly news magazine once banned by Suharto because of its penetrating articles and expos?s. He has long been known for his reasoned, articulate criticism of government policies and as an advocate of democracy and free speech in Indonesia. He has spent the last semester as a Visiting Fellow at UCLA. Donald Emmerson is a leading authority on the politics and international relations of Southeast Asia, with particular concentration on Indonesia. He is currently a senior fellow in Stanford University's Institute for International Studies, where he also heads the Asia/Pacific Research Center's Southeast Asia Forum. Prior to this, Dr. Emmerson was a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Political Science. In June 1999, he helped monitor the Indonesian election for the National Democratic Institute and the Carter Center.

How has the largely American war in Afghanistan--the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the counterattack that began on 7 October, and the retreat of Taliban forces since 13 November--affected the foreign policy environment now facing Northeast and Southeast Asian states? Is this the beginning of Cold War II? Has terrorism replaced communism as the enemy of a new and enduring global alliance led by the United States? How do East Asian governments see themselves in relation to this anti-terrorist coalition? As enthusiasts eager to defend or promote democracy in politics and moderation in religion? As joiners hoping to elicit American support for the repression of "terrorism" inside their own countries, e.g., in Tibet, Aceh, and the Sulu archipelago? As bystanders skeptical of American motives and resentful of American influence, but resigned to their inability to curb American hegemony? As balancers eager to organize East Asia into a region able to defend itself against unchecked American power? Matters relevant to the answering of such questions include: disappointing economic trends in much of East Asia; the likely impact of the compromises reaching at the recent World Trade Organization meeting in Qatar; the status and implications of the proposed free trade area between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); changing affinities and tensions among ASEAN members; military progress or failure in the effort to destroy Al Qaeda; and the possible involvement of East Asian contingents in a UN-brokered arrangement for the stabilization of Afghanistan. Simon SC Tay teaches international law at the National University of Singapore. He was selected for three terms as a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament. His many publications include A New ASEAN in a New Millennium (2000); Preventive Diplomacy and the ASEAN Regional Forum (1999); and "Towards a Singaporean Civil Society," in Southeast Asian Affairs 1998. He also writes stories and poems; his 1991 book, Stand Alone, was short-listed for the Commonwealth Prize. In 2000 the World Economic Forum named him a "global leader of tomorrow."

Anand Patwardhan's latest film, a work in progress (180 min.), shot in India, Pakistan, and Japan The director will be present for discussion after the screening. Starting with the outbreak of jingoism that marked the 1998 series of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, Patwardhan creates a road movie that vivifies the human and historical realities of this new leap in the world's nuclearization. We visit test sites with politicians, watch urban sound-and-light spectacles glorifying the military, hear the stories of suffering villagers near the test site, travel with peace marchers who confront furious pro-bomb crowds, join a conference of Indian and Pakistani peace activists, and go to Japan to hear testimony from survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks. In the style that has distinguished his earlier films, Patwardhan brilliantly captures individual voices, gestures, facial expressions, and public dramas that simultaneously reveal intimate human experience and the sweep of history. India's most controversial and renowned documentary producer, Patwardhan has won numerous Indian and international prizes during his career as a filmmaker, which spans more than a quarter of a century. While his films cover a wide variety of subjects, regions, and social groups, his central interests have been human rights, communalism, and violence. For information, see . Further questions? Contact , , or 650-725-9732.

Mr. Clark has over ten years of telecoms and technology financing and consulting experience. He has seven years of experience in China's telecom market and has been involved in the Internet in China since its commercial inception in 1995. He is the founder and managing director of BDA (China), a telecommunications and technology consulting and research firm focused on China. Duncan has leveraged his understanding of finance, telecoms and technology to build BDA into a leading Internet and telecoms consultancy in China. He speaks at a variety of industry, academic, and government events and is a technology columnist for The South China Morning Post.

As President George W. Bush faces the hardest days of his presidency, issues like terrorism, missile defense, and overall national security will be major issues of discussion in the upcoming months. How will the world cope with the global war on terrorism? How will our reactions to what happened on September 11th affect the rest of the world and vice versa? Hear what the Consul Generals of the Russian Federation and India have to say as they discuss the economic, political, and military concerns in their countries. For reservations please call 1-800-847-7730 or register on line at www.commonwealthclub.org.

Press reports of rising anti-Americanism and Muslim militance in several Southeast Asian countries have fueled speculation that the United States may be planning to intervene against terrorist groups in that part of the world. How credible are these reports? In Indonesia, which has more Muslim citizens than any country with the possible exception of India, Islamist activists have demanded the severing of U.S.-Indonesian relations and threatened to expel Americans. There has been speculation that American advisers may soon arrive in the southern Philippines to help Manila root out ostensibly Islamist rebels operating there. While criticizing the bombing of Afghanistan, Malaysian Premier Mahathir Mohamad has accused his Muslim opposition of links to Islamist subversion. Meanwhile, Malaysian jihadist elements are alleged to have been in touch with Osama bin Laden's network. How real are these perceived dangers? What do they imply for stability and democracy in Southeast Asia, and for the future of America's global coalition against terror? Bambang Harymurti has long been associated with Tempo, the leading newsweekly in Indonesia. He served on its editorial board from 1987. When the magazine was banned in 1994, he moved to the daily newspaper Media Indonesia. He returned to Tempo following its reappearance in printed form in 1998. He has held fellowships at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and the East-West Center, among other institutions. He was also a finalist in Indonesia's astronaut program. Fortunately for journalism, he did not make the cut. Don Emmerson convenes the Southeast Asia Forum in the Asia/Pacific Research Center, a unit of Stanford's Institute for International Studies.