The topics covered ranged from the economic status of china to the militarization of outer space — which, according to Zhou, is something China will never take part in. The topic that generated the most questions and concerns, however, was the issue of Taiwanese independence.
Despite this firm stance, some students believed that he handled the question gently.
“I thought he handled [the Taiwan question] well, he didn’t seem too aggressive about it, he just said ‘this is what our stance is’,” Shannon Men ’07 said.
Other students thought that his response warranted suspicion of his motives regarding the statements.
“He seemed like he needed to pretend he was someone he was not in order to promote good relations between the two countries. Especially with the Taiwan issue, his response was ‘nice’, but you could tell from his reasoning that if a country were to go against China’s interests, they would become an enemy of China. It’s not completely apparent, it seems hidden, but that’s what I think,” said Yuan Li Ren ’10.
Regardless of interpretation, Zhou made a direct request to the United States to respect China’s wishes concerning the matter, and to cease all aid to Taiwan.
The speech initially tended to steer clear of any dangerous waters, choosing to focus instead upon the improving relations between the two countries, as well as the peaceful development and evolution of China itself.
In correlation to this desire for world peace, Zhou brought up the Darfur crisis as an example of how China and the U.S. are working together towards this common goal.
“China and the U.S. are also in close consultation and cooperation with each other matters regarding the Middle East and Darfur,” Zhou said.
Concerns regarding the economic relationship between the U.S. and China arose during the question and answer segment of the address. Zhou attempted to calm the concerns, citing several positive figures indicating the expansion of the trade between the two countries.
Because of the broad range of the topic’s discussion, the reasons for each listener’s presence varied widely.
Chen Jian, the director of China and Asia-Pacific Studies asked the ambassador what he thought caused the major change in China-U.S. relations over the years.
“[The expansion of common interests] has made it possible for our two countries to resolve differences through consultations, not confrontation,” Zhou said.