Senior US officials studying in China

By Sun Wei

Nearly 20 senior US government officials received the rare opportunity to study the "Harmonious Society," "Five-Year Plan," and "Scientific Outlook on Development" at Tsinghua University this week.

The one-week program that began Monday includes 17 senior officials from US military departments, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and Customs and Border Protection.

"It doesn't mean that China is more advanced to be learned from, but it indicates the strong will of the US government to learn about the real China," Sun Zhe, director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.

"The Chinese government has sent many officials to the US to receive training. When they come back, the trainees always have some influence on China's policy-making toward the US," according to Sun, who started planning the training program two years ago. "We hope we can do it the other way around."

"Perhaps the officials will not agree with us, but at least they know more about the way we are thinking," he added.

The course "puts the flesh on the bones of my understanding of China," James S. Newman, director of operations and plans at the Department of the Navy, told the Global Times. "It is the first step of a long journey."

Newman said that before came to Beijing, he thought China was a country where ev-eryone had to live with the decisions made by leaders.

However, he found out that there is "considerable freedom to express your thoughts, to use your intelligence to help your country better. That's very powerful."

On the mutual trust between China and the US, Newman said, "One of the things we respect you for more than our own country is that you plan for much longer term than us. We are lucky to plan for next year, but you plan by generations."

"You don't want to share your true intentions," Newman said, mentioning former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's famous 28-character strategy. "Somewhere you are going to surprise us, and we worry about that, and that doesn't build trust."

In the early 1990s, Deng gave guidance to China's foreign and security policy apparatus.

"Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership," Deng said.

Sun explained that Deng's "hide our capacities and bide our time" had its context.