Hearing on China’s Views of Sovereignty and Methods of Access Control
Opening Statement of Carolyn Bartholomew, Vice Chairman
February 27, 2008
Washington, DC
Good morning and welcome to the second hearing of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2008 reporting cycle. We are pleased that you could join us. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you, and I thank you for your interest in the Commission’s work.
At today’s hearing, we will be exploring the concepts of sovereignty that are advanced by the Chinese government. In some circumstances these concepts are at odds with interpretations of international law as understood by the United States, and also play a role in conflicting territorial claims between China and some of its neighbors in Asia. Furthermore, the continuing advances in outer space exploration and use and in use of cyberspace raise questions regarding how sovereignty is defined in these critical realms of economic and information exchange and what are the rights of lawful international access. We hope that this hearing will add to the public dialogue on these issues, which I am confident will assume ever greater importance in the months and years ahead.
Throughout the day today, we will be hearing testimony from distinguished members of the academic and public policy research communities, who will contribute their views and insights regarding the positions of the U.S. and Chinese governments on issues of national sovereignty and access to the global commons. A thorough understanding of these issues will be of tremendous importance in the future of U.S.-China relations, and we hope that this hearing will assist the public and policy-making community in coming to better informed judgments on these complex and difficult issues.
The co-chairs of this hearing will be Commissioners Mark Esper and Jeffrey Fiedler. I would now like to turn the microphone over to Commissioner Fiedler for his opening remarks.