FREEDOM OF SPEECH, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS – CHINA IN RELATION TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

The conversation took place at ABF, Zetasalen, in Stockholm, March 27, 2012.
In English.

View the filmed conversation here:

For larger image, start the film and click on the symbol in the lower right corner of the video frame.

Ai Weiwei has devoted his life and art to the issues of freedom of speech, democracy and human rights in China. What significance do these issues have in China today, both historically and for the future? Although free speech is limited, the boundaries are extended by internet access, micro-blogs and lively internet debates between citizens about the Chinese leaders. Are these forces that Chinese authorities will struggle to contain? How should we in the West relate to a country that denies human rights while also providing a large part of our manufacturing industry? The panel will also discuss the relationship between the dissidents in China and those that live abroad.

Panel:

Börje Ljunggren, Swedish diplomat and expert on Asia, the former ambassador in China.
Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York, teaching and research on Chinese politics and human rights.
Malin Oud, sinologist with a focus on human rights and sustainable development.
Moderator: Dominic Ziegler, London-based Asia editor of The Economist and the magazine’s former China correspondent.

Börje Ljunggren

Börje Ljunggren was during the years 2002-06 Swedish Ambassador to China and Mongolia, ten years earlier Ambassador to Vietnam and the 1970′s aid chief in Laos and Bangladesh. He has been director of the Foreign Ministry’s and Sida’s Asia units. Parallel, Börje Ljunggren has engaged in research on Asia and a PhD in political science with a dissertation on the reforms in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He is now the Foreign Ministry’s coordinator of the Stockholm China Forum, Chairman of SEB’s Asia advisory council, a member of the Board of Lund University and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, advisor to the Sweden-China Trade Council, writer, lecturer, and tied to the China Center at the Stockholm School of Economics, Harvard University Asia Center and Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. In autumn 2009, a second edition of his acclaimed book “China – Contemporary Drama” was released. Börje Ljunggren, is perhaps the person in Sweden who has the broadest knowledge of developments in China and Asia.

Andrew J. Nathan

Andrew J. Nathan is Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York. His teaching and research interests include Chinese politics and foreign policy, the comparative study of political participation and political culture, and human rights. He is engaged in longterm research and writing on Chinese foreign policy and on sources of political legitimacy in Asia, the latter research based on data from the Asian Barometer Survey, a multi-national collaborative survey research project active in eighteen countries in Asia. Nathan is chair of the administrative committee of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and chair of the Morningside Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Columbia. He served as chair of the Department of Political Science, 2003-2006, chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2002-2003, and director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, 1991-1995. Off campus, he is co-chair of the board, Human Rights in China, a member of the boards of Freedom House and of the National Endowment for Democracy, and a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch, Asia, which he chaired, 1995-2000. He is a member of the steering committee of the Asian Barometer Surveys; the regular Asia and Pacific book reviewer for Foreign Affairs magazine; and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Democracy, The China Quarterly, The Journal of Contemporary China, China Information, and others. He does frequent interviews for the print and electronic media, has advised on several film documentaries on China, has consulted for business and government. Andrew Nathan received his degrees from Harvard University: the B.A. in history, summa cum laude, in 1963; the M.A. in East Asian Regional Studies in 1965; and the Ph.D. in Political Science in 1971. He taught at the University of Michigan in 1970-71 and has been at Columbia University since 1971. He has published numerous books and articles on China and Chinese politics.

Malin Oud

Malin Oud is Founder of Track II, a consultancy specialised in dialogue and partnerships for human rights and sustainable development, with a focus on China. She previously worked at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in China for nine years in 2001-2009, and has also at worked at Sida in Stockholm and as a consultant to the UNDP and the OHCHR in China. Malin Oud has a Master in International Development from Melbourne University and a BA in Chinese language and Social Anthropology from Lund University. She studied international human rights law and Chinese law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is author of several reports and articles on food safety, freedom of expression and human rights education in China.

Dominic Ziegler

Dominic Ziegler has spent over two decades with The Economist, and is currently its Asia Editor, based in London. Before that, he was the inaugural writer of the Banyan column, launched in 2009. He has also served in Washington DC, Beijing and Tokyo.