Newswise — The University of California, San Diego has received three significant gifts and grants totaling $2.1 million to support research on domestic and foreign policy, as well as security in China and Northeast Asia.
An anonymous donor has given $1 million to support the UC San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies’ (IR/PS) 21st Century China Program that is dedicated to the study of contemporary China. In addition, the Carnegie Corporation of New York has made two grants to support research on China and Northeast Asia with $600,000 to the 21st Century China Program and $500,000 to the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), a multi-campus research unit located at UC San Diego’s IR/PS.
“This generous private support will help us continue to produce collaborative research that addresses some of the globe’s most pressing problems,” said Peter Cowhey, IR/PS dean and holder of the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy. “Our researchers are working to identify real solutions on issues involving security, diplomacy and foreign policy that shape our ability to prevent conflict and promote cooperation.”
The 21st Century China Program, which generates original research to anchor major policy discussions on China and U.S.-China relations, will benefit from a $1 million anonymous gift and $600,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The anonymous gift will establish a permanent endowment, helping to meet the greatest needs of the program, which has one of the largest clusters of economists and political scientists working on issues tied to contemporary China in the United States. The $600,000 from the Carnegie Corporation is designated specifically to support collaborative research efforts between UC San Diego and Chinese social scientists to study China’s domestic development and the impact of domestic factors on its foreign policy.
“The 21st Century China Program fills an important need for timely and in-depth analysis of China’s economic, political and societal transformation in the context of the changing dynamics in Asia and the Pacific,” said Susan Shirk, chair of the 21st Century China Program and Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations at IR/PS. “This generous funding fuels our studies that are designed to help inform policy thinking both in the United States and China.”
The UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, which seeks to build bridges between the theory and practice of international policy and is directed by Tai Ming Cheung, a professor of China and East Asian security at IR/PS, also received support from the Carnegie Corporation with a grant of $500,000. The funding will support the institute’s annual Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD), a forum established in 1993 which convenes policy-level officials from China, Russia, North and South Korea, Japan and the United States to candidly discuss urgent regional security topics. The grant will fund NEACD’s annual meetings through 2016. The NEACD provides a rare opportunity for government and military officials and leading academics from Northeast Asian countries to come together to exchange views and improve understanding on a wide range of political, economic, military and strategy topics.
“The unpredictability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, escalating territorial disputes and frosty relations between some of the region’s major powers have all contributed to heightened tensions and unease of long-term prospects for stability and security in Northeast Asia,” said Shirk, who is director emeritus of IGCC. “Finding credible approaches to mitigate these tensions and promote dialogue is a pressing need—a need which this forum addresses, thanks to the support of the Carnegie Corporation.”