VZCZCXRO5863
RR RUEHCN RUEHVC
DE RUEHGH #7130/01 3490545
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 150545Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5368
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 5697

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 007130 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/15/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL US CH
SUBJECT: RECENT SETBACKS ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OUTREACH 
 
REF: GUANGZHOU 32340 
 
SHANGHAI 00007130  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth Jarrett, Consul General, AMCONSUL , 
SHANGHAI. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  For the past several months, Shanghai's Public 
Affairs Section (PAS) has pursued local partner institutions as 
potential hosts for a variety of IIP-produced poster shows on 
key mission themes.  Like our colleagues in Guangzhou (reftel), 
we too have run into resistance from our local Foreign Affairs 
Office (FAO), which has pulled the plug both on poster shows and 
proposed talks on intellectual property rights.  The Director of 
Fudan University's Center for American Studies, who was 
initially enthusiastic about hosting a series of poster shows, 
recently told us that the Shanghai FAO was acting in accordance 
with an MFA order cautioning Shanghai-area universities to 
"limit their interaction" with the Shanghai Consulate.  Although 
some of our activities have been affected, we continue to 
attract large numbers to our film screenings and our speaker 
program is as active as ever.  End summary. 
 
Initial Success ... 
 
------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) As part of its ongoing PD outreach campaign throughout 
East China, Shanghai PAS began earlier this year engaging local 
institutions as host partners for various IIP-produced poster 
shows on key mission themes, ranging from American culture to 
environmental protection to IPR.  PAS chose initially to target 
its outreach efforts outside Shanghai.  Ningbo University Zone 
Library, which serves six local universities in the city of 
Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, proved a willing partner, hosting 
two IIP-produced poster shows on Jazz Music and African-American 
Writers in January 2006.  Enthusiastic crowds of more than 
70,000 students and members of the general public viewed the 
exhibit over a six-week period. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Xuhui Library, one of Shanghai's district-level 
libraries, also proved a willing partner, showing the same two 
American cultural exhibits for a month in March-April 2006 to 
more than 20,000 visitors.  At the opening ceremony, the Deputy 
Director of the Xuhui District Cultural Affairs Bureau told PAO 
that the Xuhui District Government welcomed continued 
interaction with the U.S. Consulate and opportunities for its 
citizens to learn more about the United States. 
 
... Followed by Frustration 
 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Post subsequently planned a series of outreach 
activities in the spring centered on the theme of IPR 
protection, to include an IIP-produced poster show, translated 
into Chinese, and a speech by the CG on the benefits of IPR 
protection to China's development of a knowledge-based economy. 
We targeted the nine IPR institutes and research centers at 
various Shanghai universities as potential hosts for these 
activities.  Three universities were initially enthusiastic, but 
dropped out one by one under instructions from the Shanghai FAO. 
 Post also approached the Shanghai IPR Bureau about the 
possibility of mounting the IPR poster show on the occasion of 
World IPR Day on April 26, but again the FAO intervened, 
effectively shutting down most of our outreach plans on the 
topic of IPR. (The CG was able to give his speech to a local 
chamber of commerce.) 
 
FAO Nixes Poster Show at Fudan 
 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (C) When long-time Consulate contact Shen Dingli was named 
Director of the Center for American Studies (CAS) at Fudan 
University in May 2006, he reached out to us for assistance in 
providing basic information about American society, culture and 
policies to his students to the Center on a regular basis. 
Together with Shen, PAS designed a series of poster shows to be 
displayed in the center lobby over the course of the current 
academic year, on topics ranging from HIV/AIDS to environmental 
protection to Black History.  The series was to begin with a 
month-long show on HIV/AIDS on November 9 as a prelude to World 
AIDS Day.  The day before the scheduled opening, Shen informed 
us that the Shanghai FAO had told Fudan that not only did it not 
have permission for the planned show on HIV/AIDS, but that the 
Shanghai FAO would have to review the content of each planned 
poster show before it would grant approval.  As of December 6, 
no such approval had been received, forcing the postponement of 
any poster shows until March 2007, after the Chinese New Year 
break. 
 
¶6. (C) When the CG raised this matter with FAO Director Jeffrey 
Yang on November 10, Yang said that Fudan had failed to go 
through appropriate channels to seek permission for the show. 
 
SHANGHAI 00007130  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Yang also betrayed sensitivity about the HIV/AIDS theme, arguing 
that the reported numbers of HIV/AIDS cases in China was 
exaggerated.  Yang also noted that his office would need to 
review the content of any poster show. Yang said his office 
didn't want to do this piecemeal, preferring instead to review 
the proposed poster shows as a series. 
 
¶7.  (C) In a related incident, Shen told the PAO that Fudan 
University's FAO had criticized one of his deputy drectors, Sun 
Zhe, for not informing them of his bringing Fudan students to 
participate in an October 17 DVC at the Consulate on the midterm 
elections.  Sun Zhe, also a long-time Consulate contact, was one 
of the panelists for this dialogue and the 40 students from 
Fudan were among the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic 
audience participants.  Shen reported that Sun had been 
subsequently told he needed FAO permission to involve students 
in activities with the Consulate and that he shouldn't invite as 
many students in the future.  At a second Consulate DVC after 
the midterm elections on November 27, Sun Zhe was again a 
panelist, but this time he only brought 20 students. 
 
Shanghai FAO Acting on Instruction from Beijing MFA? 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Post's initial reaction was that this was a classic 
bureaucratic struggle between Fudan University and the Shanghai 
FAO, with Shen's relative inexperience as Director of CAS a 
contributing factor.  A subsequent conversations with Shen, 
however, revealed that there was more to the situation than 
simple procedural violations.  Shen sought out the PAO at a 
function on November 12 to say that he had learned that the MFA 
had issued an instruction earlier in the fall directing all 
Shanghai area universities to "limit their interaction" with the 
U.S. Consulate.  Shen also said that Fudan had apparently never 
received a copy of this notice.  As far as Shen was aware, it 
was business as usual with the Consulate.  It remains to be seen 
whether Fudan has sufficient political capital to mount 
Consulate-sponsored poster shows. 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Shen is the only local contact to reference a supposed 
MFA directive on interaction with the Consulate, so we cannot 
state for a fact that such a document exists.  Regardless, the 
Shanghai FAO has disrupted our plans to host poster shows at 
Fudan and did obstruct earlier plans for talks on IPR 
protection.  Other PAS programs -- such as our popular film 
screenings and speaker programs -- however, continue unaffected. 
 For example, on December 14, DPO spoke at Shanghai University 
of Finance and Economics on U.S.-China trade relations.  That 
makes it even more difficult to decipher the intent behind the 
supposed directive.  Post will continue to pursue local partners 
as hosts for poster shows and to explore alternative programming 
possibilities with Fudan's CAS.  Unlike our Guangzhou 
colleagues, however, we fear the Shanghai FAO's mood, at least 
with respect to poster shows, may not pass quickly. 
JARRETT