VZCZCXRO8358
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0319/01 1490752
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 290752Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5865
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1121
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0678
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0660
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0788
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0682
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0552
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6271

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000319 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, INR/B AND INR/EAP 
NSC FOR WILDER AND TONG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  X1 MANUAL REVIEW 
TAGS: PGOV PINR CH
SUBJECT: INFIGHTING AT FUDAN UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR AMERICAN STUDIES 
 
REF: A) SHANGHAI 306 B) SHANGHAI 316 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth Jarrett, Consul General,   , U.S. 
Consulate Shanghai. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  During a May 21 discussion with Consul 
General, Fudan Center for American Studies (CAS) Director Shen 
Dingli in addition to sharing his views on Chinese leadership 
issues (reftels), spent a great deal of time discussing 
infighting at the Center.  We share a summary of Shen's lament 
as an example of the political jockeying for position and 
personal gain that often takes place in China.  Shen claimed 
that his main rival, CAS Vice Director Sun Zhe was not trusted 
by CAS staff because of his collusion with University Party 
officials to enroll their children at U.S. universities and 
Sun's efforts to obtain personal gain from academic exchanges. 
Sun now plans to establish a rival U.S. studies center at 
Tsinghua University.  Shen was trying to foster a more 
 
SIPDIS 
cooperative atmosphere but noted that academic rivalries were 
strong among other CAS academics.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) In a Consul General hosted lunch on May 21, Fudan 
University Center for American Studies (CAS) regaled the CG and 
Poloff with stories of university politics and infighting at 
CAS.  Shen's comments on the sudden removal of Foreign Minister 
Li Zhaoxing and on Shanghai leaders were reported in reftels. 
CAS is China's premier U.S. studies center and its academics are 
considered to be some of the leading U.S.-China bilateral 
relations experts. 
 
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Using Position To Derive Personal Benefit 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Shen said that CAS Vice Director Sun Zhe had still not 
come to terms with his failure to become Center Director after 
former CAS Director Ni Shixiong stepped down mid-2006.  Shen 
said that Ni and many university party officials supported Sun 
to succeed Ni as CAS Director.  However, many CAS staff disliked 
Sun because he had used his position as Deputy Director to gain 
personal advantages.  For example, Sun had helped the children 
of Fudan Party officials study overseas at Columbia University, 
Sun's alma mater.  He was also involved in trying to set up a 
joint Masters of Public Administration (MPA) program between 
Columbia and Fudan.  Sun had his own company which was acting as 
mediator between the two universities and was to receive 70 
percent of the profits from the program.  The deal eventually 
fell through, partly because University officials were 
uncomfortable with the amount of money Sun's company would 
receive.  Afterwards, Sun introduced his contacts to Jiaotong 
University.  This angered many CAS staffers who felt that Sun 
had betrayed Fudan by helping a rival school in Shanghai. 
 
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Playing Dirty - Spreading Rumors 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  Shen added that the rivalry worsened after he, rather 
than Sun, was appointed CAS Director.  At that time, rumors 
about Shen circulated on the Internet alleging that he had a 
romantic relationship with one of his graduate students.  Shen 
believed that Sun was responsible for these rumors.  Shen added 
that University officials were also angered by the rumors since 
anything that damaged Shen's reputation damaged the University's 
reputation. 
 
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Jumping Ship To Form a Rival Institution 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) According to Shen, Sun had decided that he could no 
longer stay in Shanghai and would move to Beijing to set up a 
center for American Studies at Tsinghua University.  Shen noted 
that although Sun had very strong ties to the Communist Party in 
Shanghai and business interests (his wife owns a company in 
Shanghai), Fudan Party officials had lost confidence in him 
after he was unsuccessful in getting the CAS Director's 
position.  Shen said that he had tried to keep Sun in Shanghai 
and had even called Shanghai Institute of International Studies 
(SIIS) President Yu Xintian to see if Sun could get a position 
at SIIS.  Yu refused, stating that there were no open positions. 
 
 
SHANGHAI 00000319  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (C) Shen worried that Sun's move to Beijing would have a 
negative affect on CAS.  First, his move was a blow to Shen's 
reputation because it could be used as an indication that he was 
unable to unify his staff.  Second, Sun had a great deal of 
expertise on the U.S. Congress and connections to U.S. 
organizations, such as the U.S.-China Educational Trust (USCET). 
 Shen was concerned that USCET might direct its resources to the 
new center at Tsinghua, once it was up and running. 
 
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University Politics - The Same All Over? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) In fact, Shen added that there had been bad blood and 
mistrust among CAS academics for many years.  Former CAS 
Director Ni Shixiong cultivated this atmosphere as a means to 
assert his preeminence.  He believed that if academics were 
fighting against one another than they would not oppose him. 
Shen said that it was not unusual for CAS academics to block the 
appointment of rival academics to the center.  For example, CAS 
Vice Director Wu Xinbo recently blocked the appointment of Ren 
Xiao to CAS because he disliked him.  There was also bad blood 
between Wu Xinbo and Ni Shixiong. 
 
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Trying to Focus on Substantive Work 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Shen was tired of all this infighting and hoped that 
these personal conflicts could be resolved soon so that CAS 
staff could concentrate on their scholarly work.  He said that 
he was trying to serve as an example and be as accommodating as 
possible.  For example, he has been very differential to Ni and 
tried to include him on many of CAS's events.  He hoped that 
this would prevent Ni from trying to undermine him and hurt CAS. 
 
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Comment 
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¶9.  (C) The length of Shen's soliloquy about CAS infighting is a 
measure of how bitter he feels about his struggle to control CAS 
staff and has openly discussed CAS problems with many visitors, 
including a group of energy experts at a dinner party attended 
by Econoff and visiting Australian analyst.  With the departure 
of Sun, Shen may finally be able to move on and concentrate his 
efforts on building the center. 
JARRETT