Tensions between the United States and China have flared this week over the honoring of the Dalai Lama by President Bush and Congress. But Emory officials say the University’s relationship with the Dalai Lama should not hurt its ties with Chinese institutions.

University President James W. Wagner said he does not think the University’s relationship with China will be affected after the Dalai Lama is installed as a professor Monday.

“We consider China to be open to partnering on matters academic,” he said.

The Chinese government considers the Dalai Lama a separatist political leader. China has pulled out of a conference about Iran to protest the Dalai Lama’s reception in Washington, and a Chinese spokesman called for the United States to stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs.

Wagner said he hasn’t had any formal communication with the Chinese government, but some Chinese individuals have raised concerns, questioning Emory’s motives for hosting the Dalai Lama.

Wagner said the two main concerns involve the religious issue of a Methodist institution inviting a Buddhist spiritual leader to campus, and whether Emory is declaring a position on the sovereignty of Tibet. But he said Emory remains neutral on political issues and focuses on engaging intellectually with the Dalai Lama.

“We’re in the marketplace of ideas that transcends politics,” Wagner said. “We invite ideas regardless of political overturns.”

Neither the Chinese Embassy in Washington nor the Consulate in Houston responded to requests for comment.

The University has established institutional ties with China including five study abroad programs in Shanghai, Beijing and Harbin, and various research programs. In 2005, Emory began a partnership with the Peking Union Medical College for research and scientific collaboration.

In May, Emory collaborated with Atlanta Public Schools and the Consulate in Houston to develop a Confucius Institute in Sammye E. Coan Middle School in Decatur by next spring. The program’s goal is to make the institution a site that promotes Chinese language and culture and to develop a kindergarten-to-12th grade Chinese curriculum for Atlanta schools, said Joachim Kurtz, assistant professor of Chinese.

Kurtz said Emory has a multi-layered relationship with China, and that he hasn’t heard any concerns during meetings with Chinese representatives so far.

“I think that they all accept that Emory is an open institution,” Kurtz said. “But I don’t know how it will play out.”

Rong Cai, associate professor of Chinese and recipient of the Fulbright grant for research in China, taught in China for five years before coming to America in 1987. Cai said Chinese universities are increasingly enjoying more academic freedom since the 1980s and more or less run themselves and are responsible for their own financial health.

She said although government control over university curricula differ by discipline, Chinese universities have more autonomy than they did in the past.

“[In] disciplines like social sciences and humanities you may have more government control than in natural sciences,” Cai said. “They can design their own curriculum but I cannot say that the government has no control. They do have control over universities but not to the extent that it was 20 years ago.”

Chinese universities are gradually seeking more partnerships with American universities for study abroad exchanges, said Mark Lenhart, director of CET Academic Programs, one of the private organizations that offer study abroad programs for Emory. Such organizations work directly with Chinese universities to administer study abroad programs for American universities.

Lenhart said representatives from Chinese institutions have not commented on the Dalai Lama.

“I think that for the most part, the institutions that we work with try to avoid any sort of political issues, particularly when they’re directly related to U.S.-China relations,” he said.

But Associate Professor of History Tonio Andrade, who teaches Chinese and Taiwanese history and has worked with several Chinese universities in the past, said ties between Emory and China have been strong, but that it is too early to tell what effect Emory’s hosting the Dalai Lama will have.

“I really personally would not be surprised if the Dalai Lama would put a damper on these sorts of ties,” Andrade said.

Wagner said some people are questioning Emory’s ties to the Dalai Lama for other reasons. He has received several messages and letters from people who feel that Emory, with its Methodist roots, is inappropriately hosting the head of a “non-Abrahamic” religion. One critic pointed him toward a sermon by John Wesley, founder of Methodism, on seeking after faith.

“It’s a sermon on values of encouraging spiritual pursuit,” Wagner said. “It’s pretty clear from reading this sermon that John Wesley would welcome an opportunity to meet and engage with the Dalai Lama.”

Wagner said Emory must preserve political neutrality that allows conflict ideas to engage each other so that valid conclusions can be drawn.

“We welcome Israeli scholars, Palestinian scholars. We welcome Tibetan scholars, Chinese scholars,” Wagner said. “People who have difficulty engaging because of the political differences — they’re welcome here.”

— Contact Michelle Ye Hee Lee
at mlee@emorywheel.com