The Cornell Political Forum, a 12-year-old student organization at Cornell that publishes the award-winning quarterly journal of the same name, will host a panel discussion on China on Monday, March 31, at 8 p.m. in Auditorium D of Goldwin Smith Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Joining the panel will be Harry Harding, dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University and one of this country's foremost experts on U.S.-China policy. Also serving on the panel from Cornell will be Bruce Reynolds, editor of the China Economic Review and a visiting professor of economics at Cornell from Union College; Thomas Christensen, assistant professor of government; and Vivienne Shue, the Frank and Rosa Rhodes Professor of Chinese Government. Moderating will be Tsu-Lin Mei, the Hu Shih Professor of Chinese Literature and Philosophy.

Before joining George Washington University, where he also is professor of international affairs and political science, Harding was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at The Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books on China, including the critically acclaimed China's Second Revolution: Reform After Mao (1987) and A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China Since 1972 (1992).

At Cornell, Harding will discuss the roles and interrelationships of the many American interests in China, particularly security, human rights and economics, said Matthew Wexler, events president of the Political Forum.

"Dean Harding's visit to Cornell comes at a critical juncture in the relationship between China and the United States," Wexler said. "As an accomplished author, speaker and former Brookings Institution fellow, he will enlighten the Cornell community with his tremendous knowledge about the various American interests at stake in China."

After opening statements from each of the panel participants, audience members will be able to ask them questions, Wexler said. The discussions to emerge from the session will form the basis of the spring issue of Cornell Political Forum magazine, Wexler said.

The Cornell Political Forum is a nonpartisan organization whose primary function is to generate intellectual, informed discussion on the top issues of the day.

The China panel is cosponsored by the Cornell Economics Society, the Leap August Society, Cornell Democrats, Chinese Students Association, Adelphic Cornell Educational Fund and Student Activity Finance Commission. For more information about the panel, see the Cornell Political Forum's Web site at cpf.slife.cornell.edu.