SHU professor receives grant to promote U.S.-China dialogue

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Maritime disputes related to the South China Sea could have a major impact on peace and security in the Asia Pacific region as well as on the United States. Without meaningful dialogue between the United States and China, a widening perception gap over the conflict is likely to further destabilize relations between the two superpowers. These issues are complicated further by the political and diplomatic transitioning under way in the United States.

Professor Zheng Wang, director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, has initiated a new endeavor of global negotiation and conflict resolution to bring together both parties. The project is being supported through a $250,000 award to Seton Hall University from the Henry Luce Foundation to enhance dialogue around the South China Sea conflict. The goals of the project are to help American and Chinese scholarly and policy communities understand each other’s perspectives on the South China Sea, and to bring potential consequences of conflict into sharper focus.

Wang is collaborating with Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea, based at Nanjing University in China. The project is built around the method of interactive conflict resolution, in which thought leaders representing both countries will participate in a series of carefully planned and facilitated dialogue sessions that aim to increase communication, develop mutual understanding and produce positive policy outcomes.

  Seton Hall University