Tex Abe, President and CEO of Sumisho Electronics Co., Ltd., has lead the Company since June 2002. During his tenure, he carried out management reforms including several M&As and board structure change. Prior to joining the Company, he was president and CEO of Presidio Venture Partners, LLC, a leading corporate venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, where he made his mark in new-venture funding and management. Presidio is a vehicle for early to mid stage IT investment, backed by a major Japanese trading company, Sumitomo Corporation.

Abe has more than 20 years of experience in Sumitomo, where he developed his career on the information technology, utility, and independent power industries. Through assignments in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angels, Houston, and Tokyo, he has gained expertise in project development and management, project finance, corporate management, full turnkey contracting, and major equipment sales and marketing.

"Taiwan's Democratization, American Democracy Diplomacy and China's

Democratic Future"

Sheng-Chung "Jeffrey" Hsiao, Shorenstein APARC Visiting Fellow from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan

and

"A Rhetorical Analysis of U. S. Foreign Policy Towards Taiwan"

Pingshen "Benson" Wang, Shorenstein APARC Visiting Fellow from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan

During the past 11 months, 9 VC-backed firms from China have successfully brought their IPOs to NASDAQ. Now that the VC industry in China is heating up, Dr. Zhang will address the following topics: What is the evolving structure and system of the venture capital industry in China? What is the investment process and how do international VC firms make decisions when investing in China? Why have several VC firms outperformed others? What challenges lie ahead?

About the Speaker

Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the School of Economics & Management, Tsinghua University. During Fall 2004, he is a Visiting Fellow at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Professor Zhang's research interests focus on venture capital and entrepreneurship in China. He received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in engineering and Ph.D. in Management from Tsinghua University.

Bennett Freeman is a managing director in the Washington, DC office of Burson-Marsteller, where he leads the firm's Global Corporate Responsibility practice advising multinational corporations on issues ranging from human rights and labor practices to the environment and sustainable development. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller in May 2003, Freeman advised companies, international institutions and NGOs on corporate responsibility and human rights as Principal of Sustainable Investment Strategies. In 2002, he co-authored an independent Human Rights Impact Assessment of the BP Tangguh project in Papua, Indonesia, the first such assessment undertaken in advance of a major energy project in the world.

Freeman served as a presidential appointee in three positions in the State Department across the full span of the Clinton Administration. As U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999 to early 2001, Freeman led the State Department's bilateral human rights diplomacy around the world under Assistant Secretary Harold Koh. In that capacity, he was the principal architect of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the first human rights standard forged by governments, companies and NGOs for the oil and mining industries. Previously he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and chief speechwriter for Secretary of State Warren Christopher from early 1993 to early 1997.

A buffet lunch will be available to those who reserve with Debbie Warren dawarren@stanford.edu by Friday, November 12.

Ambassador Charles L. Pritchard, an expert on U.S. relations with Japan and Korea, was a top aide to President Bush in the administration's negotiations with North Korea and the U.S. Representative to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). He was also special assistant to the President and senior director for Asian affairs in the Clinton administration. Pritchard joined the Brookings Institution as a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program on September 2, 2003. While at Brookings, Pritchard has published "North Korea Needs A Personal Touch", Los Angeles Times (09/10/03); "A Guarantee to Bring Kim into Line", Financial Times (10/10/03); "Freeze on North Korea Nuclear Program is Imperative", The Korea Herald (01/09/04); "What I Saw in North Korea", New York Times (01/21/04), "While the US Looked for Iraqi WMD North Korea Built Theirs", YaleGlobal(01/01/04), and "U.S. Should Confide in Allies on North Korean Nukes", Asahi Shimbun/International Herald Tribune (08/06-07/04).

Following a twenty-eight year career in the army, during which he held military assign-ments with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as its country director for Japan, and as the U.S. Army Attaché in Tokyo, Pritchard joined the National Security Council in 1996.

Pritchard obtained his B.A. in Political Science from Mercer University in Georgia and his M.A. in International Studies from the University of Hawaii. He is the recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard's government has strongly reaffirmed the ANZUS (Australia-New Zealand-US) alliance and his country's cultural ties to Europe. Critics have replied that these policies impede the development of Australian relations with Southeast Asia, especially now that the US is so unpopular in much of the region. How valid is the critique? And how will likely trends in Southeast Asia and the outcome of the American presidential election affect Australia's search for a balance between its proximity to Asia and its alliance with America? In addition to addressing these questions, Dr. Engel will argue that in making foreign policy, identity politics need not be sacrificed to or precluded by pragmatic interest. In Southeast Asian international relations, rhetoric and realism hardly rule each other out.

Dr. David Engel's responsibilities at the Australian Embassy in Washington include policies toward Southeast Asia. He has directed the Indonesia section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2001-03) in Canberra, served in Jakarta (1998-2001) and Phnom Penh (1993-95), and worked on Australia's relations with Vietnam and Laos as well. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1989.

This is the Forum's 1st seminar of the 2004-2005 Academic Year

Charles Pritchard has had a distinguished career in government. He was the Ambassador and Special Envoy for Negotiations with North Korea, and the U.S. Representative to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, State Department. He has also served as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asian Affairs, and Director for Asian Affairs in the National Security Council.