MEDIA ADVISORY: Far East expert to discuss role of China

Contact: Sammy McDavid

The director of Vanderbilt University's Center for U.S.-Japan Studies and Cooperation will be the featured speaker Thursday [March 1] for the Executive Lecture Forum meeting in Jackson.

"China: Economic Opportunity or Military Threat to the U.S. and Japan in the 21st Century?" will be the topic of James E. Auer's presentation during the noon luncheon at the downtown University Club. The center he leads is a part of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.

As with all ELF program, his visit to the state is organized by the Janos Radvanyi Chair in International Security Studies at Mississippi State University.

Auer is a doctoral graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He served in the U.S. Navy 1963-83, largely in Japan. From 1979-88, he was Special Assistant for Japan in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

While the ELF luncheon is not a pubic event, interested members of the news media are invited to attend. To ensure adequate seating, please contact the Radvanyi Chair office as soon as possible at 662-325-8406.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.