RECENT SETBACKS ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY OUTREACH

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

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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 ...

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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