With Prof. David Zweig, Director of the Center on China's Transnational Relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Yang Guang, Director-general of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IWAAS-CASS), Beijing, China. The debate will be moderated by Prof. Meine Pieter van Dijk PhD, Professor Enterpreneurship in Emerging Economies, Maastricht School of Management, with longstanding experience with China and Asian economy.

David Zweig is chair professor, Division of Social Science, and director, Center on China's Transnational Relations, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. He specializes in Chinese politics, political economy and the foreign relations of East Asia. He taught for ten years at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and the Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. From 1984 to 1985, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.
He is the author of four books, most recently, “Internationalizing China: domestic interests and global linkages” (Cornell Univ. Press, 2002). His most recent journal articles include: “China’s Global Search for Oil" (Foreign Affairs, September/October 2005), and "Learning to Compete: China’s Effort to Encourage a Reverse Brain Drain” (International Labour Review, January 2006).

In 1983, David received his Ph.D. in political science from The University of Michigan. He was an exchange student and visiting scholar in China, 1974-76, 1980-81, 1986 and 1991-92, and has lived in Hong Kong since 1996.

Since 1978, Mr. Yang Guang has been a researcher/professor at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he currently serves as the Director-General; he is one of China's leading scholars in Middle Eastern Studies. He has published numerous articles and monographs on development, economics, and energy issues in Middle Eastern countries. His recent publications include "Development Report for the Middle East and Africa" (Social Scientific Documentation Publishing House, 1997-2003) and "The Social Security Systems of the West-Asian and African Countries" (The Publishing House of Reform, 2000). He also serves as executive president of two national associations, namely the Chinese Association for Middle East Studies and the Chinese Society for Asian and African Studies, both of which have hundreds of members. He received a master's degree in law from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1999. Having studied in Paris and Wisconsin, USA, in the 1980s, he has a good command of both English and French. His research Interests are China's Energy Security, with a Specific Focus on Oil Supply.