2018 Annual Conference in Silicon Valley

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C100 AWARDS GALA DINNER

The Committee of 100 Annual Conference 2018 took place at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara in Silicon Valley on May 5-6 and featured many prominent U.S.-China experts including Ambassador Max S. Baucus, former U.S. Ambassador to China (2014-17); Ambassador Gary Locke, former U.S. Ambassador to China (2011-14); Ambassador Chas Freeman, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense; Jin Liqun, Inaugural President and Chair of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist at Google Cloud AI/ML and Director of Stanford University’s AI Lab; Michelle Lee, Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Congressman Ro Khanna, 17th District of California, sixty distinguished Committee of 100 members and many other dignitaries.

Dignitaries present at the conference included Ambassador Luo Linquan, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco; Congressman Mike Honda, former Representative for California’s 17th District; Consul General Darryl Lau, Singapore Consulate General in San Francisco; California State Assemblymember Kansen Chu, 25th Assembly District; California State Assemblymember Vince Fong, 34th Assembly District, among others.

This year C100 was proud to present the “2018 Leadership Award for Advancing U.S.-China Relations” to three outstanding honorees: Mr. Chen Tianqiao, Founder of Shanda Group and the Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute, and C100 members Mr. Ken Xie, Founder, Chair, and CEO of Fortinet, and Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang, Chair Emerita of the Asian Corporation Governance Association. Chen and Xie were recognized individually for their Lifetime Achievement as Tech Entrepreneurs. Ambassador Yang was recognized as the Honorary Conference Co-Chair and for her lifetime achievement in Diplomatic Service, having been appointed by President Clinton as the U.S. Executive Director and Ambassador to the Board of the Asian Development Bank. The Leadership Award for Advancing U.S.-China Relations is granted to individuals who have demonstrated service, leadership and dedication to strengthening the U.S.-China relationship.

The Committee of 100 also honored Dr. David M. Lampton with the “Lifetime Achievement Award for Advancing U.S.-China Relations” in recognition of his lifelong leadership in promoting constructive relations between the U.S. and China. Dr. Lampton is Hyman Professor and Director of China Studies at the prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and has been a member of C100’s Advisory Council since 2007. C100 Governor and Co-Founder Henry Tang and C100 President Frank H. Wu presented Dr. Lampton with the award. Dr. Lampton stated, “I want to commend C100 for all you’ve done and I would just say you are more important than ever. We are entering…terra-incognita in U.S.-China relations and I think we all have to work very hard to make this the productive kind of relationship it should be.”

C100 Conference Co-Chair Ken Fong presented Chen Tianqiao’s award. Chen addressed his old and new friends in his acceptance speech and stated, “I am so honored to be here tonight and very humbled to accept this award from C100. I have a lot of respect [for] this prestigious group of people and [am] impressed by the mission. Thank you very much.”

Dr. Yang Bin, Vice President and Provost of Tsinghua University, flew from Beijing to attend the C100 Conference and personally present C100 Conference Co-Chair and Tsinghua alumnus Ken Xie with the leadership award. Dr. Yang acknowledged “one of our distinguished alumni, Mr. Ken Xie, who is a true pride of Tsinghua University…I am here to say thanks to you from Tsinghua because you inspired many dreams of Tsinghua-ers, American, Chinese, and beyond.”

C100 President Frank H. Wu and C100 member Calvin Tsao presented Ambassador Yang with the leadership award. Tsao, who is Ambassador Yang’s nephew, delivered remarks on behalf of the family. As a distinguished architect and C100 member, Tsao shared personal reminiscences and thanked his Aunt Linda and her late husband for encouraging him in his dream to pursue architecture.