Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release                                  
February 14, 2000                                                    

Challenge of a Strong China to U.S. Interests Focus of Lawrence
University Lecture 


     APPLETON, WIS. -- The rising influence of China could lead to
regional and global shifts in the balance of power and increase the
likelihood of international conflict warns a foreign policy expert on
East Asia in an upcoming Lawrence University lecture.  
     Richard Bush, a 1969 Lawrence graduate and current chairman and
managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, presents "East
Asia in the 21st Century:  The Challenge of China" Thursday,  Feb. 24
at 7 p.m. in Main Hall, Room 109.  Bush's address, which is free and
open to the public, is the final installment in Lawrence's six-part
lecture series, "Another American Century?"    
     In his address, Bush will examine scenarios in which China could
displace the United States as the dominant power of East Asia, what
direct or indirect challenges China poses to American interests and what
the United States must do to protect those interests.  Bush also will
discuss how a growing rivalry between the U.S. and the Peoplešs Republic
of China could impact the future of the island of Taiwan.  
     Appointed to the American Institute in Taiwan board in 1997 by
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Bush previously served two years
as national intelligence officer for East Asia and five years with the
China Council of the Asia Society.  A staff  member on the House
International Relations Committee from 1983-95, Bush earned his Ph.D. in
political science from Columbia University.