The Awards Ceremony of 2022 Samuel "Sandy" R. Berger Memorial Fellowship, co-hosted by USCET and the School of International Studies PKU, was held virtually on Oct. 12. Students who received the fellowship talked about their research proposals at the event.
Mr. Zhu Yibo (Deputy Director of the SIS Council) opened the ceremony by reading remarks from Prof. Tang Shiqi, Dean of SIS. In his opening remarks, Prof. Tang commended the crucial role the Fellowship has been playing – enhancing people-to-people ties between China and the U.S.
Amb. Julia Chang Bloch (President of the USCET):"The Berger Memorial Fellowship provided a glimmer of hope during these darkest hours of China-U.S. relations... despite the deteriorating relationship between the 2 govts., human connections between the 2 sides remain unbroken."
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Mrs. Susan Berger, wife of the late Honorable Sandy Berger, congratulated the four awardees and expressed her gratitude that the younger generation in China is carrying forward her husband' s legacy through their research.
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In his remarks, Prof. Jia Qingguo (Director of iGCU) talked about the importance of p2p exchanges, specifically on how it might help ease China-U.S. tensions. "Constructive dialogue/exchange is always beneficial, and the Berger Memorial Fellowship is an outstanding example of that."
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Prof. Wang Yizhou (iGCU Academic Committee Member), Prof. Wang Yong (iGCU Academic Committee Member), Dr. Robert Kapp (former President of the US-China Business Council), and Prof. Harry Harding (Founder of UVABattern), commented on the awardees’ research proposals.
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In his closing remarks, Prof. Wang Dong (Executive Director of iGCU) stated that though the current China-U.S. relationship isn’t ideal, as long as the youngsters from both countries keep communicating with one another, a brighter future forChina-US Relationscould soon be seen.
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