China security expert to visit New Zealand

2 August 2012

China security expert to visit New Zealand

One of the world’s leading authorities on China’s foreign policy and North Asian security issues will be based at Victoria University until early September.

Professor Zhu Feng, from Peking University in Beijing, holds the Sir Howard Kippenberger Visiting Chair for 2012. His expertise will help Victoria’s Centre for Strategic Studies research security issues in the Asia Pacific region and their impact on New Zealand.

“China’s growing power and America’s response are shifting the strategic landscape and Professor Zhu will provide a dynamic perspective on where these tides are headed,” says Professor Robert Ayson, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies.

“I’m delighted that Professor Zhu has accepted this appointment as he is one of the most interesting speakers one can possibly find on how China sees the world. His analysis will make a significant contribution to New Zealand’s understanding of strategic affairs in North Asia, a part of the Asia-Pacific region which is shaping the world’s economic and security destiny.”

The public will get an opportunity to hear insights from Professor Zhu, who is regarded as an authority on China’s foreign policy and its relationship with the United States. He will deliver the annual Kippenberger Lecture at Victoria University on 3 September on the topic: ‘China's Response to America's Asia-Pacific Rebalancing: Implications for Regional Order’.

The lecture will examine interaction between China and the United States and whether they are headed towards greater strategic competition or a future where they build on common interests to protect regional prosperity and security.

Professor Zhu will also give a public lecture at the University of Otago in Dunedin on 23 August.

While in Wellington, Professor Zhu will be a leading speaker at a conference on the Chinese model of economic development which begins on 13 August, hosted by the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, and participate in an anniversary seminar being held at Parliament on 5 September to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China.

Dr Zhu Feng is a professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University and Deputy Director of the Center for International & Strategic Studies at the University. He has held research fellowships at the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and the Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies at Harvard University, and been a visiting scholar at Durham University in the United Kingdom.

His next book is a co-edited volume with John Ikenberry and Wang Jisi on The U.S., China and the World Order (Stanford University Press).

The Sir Howard Kippenberger Visiting Chair honours Major General Sir Howard Kippenberger, one of New Zealand’s most distinguished and courageous soldiers, a strategist and a scholar of conflict and war.

Sir Howard served as President of the New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association and oversaw the production of 23 volumes of New Zealand official war histories.

Professor Zhu is the fifth recipient to hold the Visiting Chair, the funds for which are managed through the University’s charitable trust the Victoria University Foundation.

ENDS

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