Ash Center: Two Senior Chinese Officials Perform Key Research at the Ash Center

February 3, 2012
Ash Center: Two Senior Chinese Officials Perform Key Research at the Ash Center
New World Fellows LIU Ning and Erken Tuniyaz

By Kate Hoagland

During the spring semester, the Ash Center’s Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia welcomed two notable Chinese officials as New World Fellows. LIU Ning is the vice minister and a member of the Leading Party Group of the Ministry of Water Resources, while Erken Tuniyaz serves as the vice governor of the People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. As New World Fellows, LIU and Tuniyaz will attend classes at the Kennedy School and throughout the University, and explore research that promises to inform their professional careers and enrich the Center’s portfolio of scholarship on innovation and democratic governance.

LIU Ning brings a host of notable experience to his current position at the Ministry of Water Resources. He has served as the Three Gorges Project director of design; deputy director and deputy chief engineer of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission; general manager of the Yangtze River Bidding Company; and chief engineer of the South-North Water Diversion Project Planning and Design Bureau. LIU holds a doctoral degree in hydrology and water resources from the Wuhan School of Water Resources and Hydropower. During his fellowship at the Ash Center, LIU will conduct a comparative analysis of the management of water resources in the United States and China during times of crisis as well as states of non-emergency.

Prior to his position as Vice Governor, Erken Tuniyaz served as the division chief of the Xinjiang CPC Organization Department. He has also held positions in the Department as deputy division chief of the Xinjiang Personnel Bureau along with both deputy secretary and administrative commissioner of the Xinjiang Hotan Prefecture. Tuniyaz holds a master’s degree in political economics from Xinjiang University. As a New World Fellow, Tuniyaz will research issues of environmental protection, energy policy and resource management, and sustainability practices.

LIU and Tuniyaz represent two of the much larger cohort of over 125 New World Fellows that have participated in key research during past tenures at the Ash Center. Since 1988, the New World Fellows program has selected a host of civil servants, policymakers, and promising new leaders to further enhance their skills and broaden their capacity on relevant research while at the Ash Center. Not only does the Fellows program equip the next generation of Chinese officials with pertinent academic and government experience, the program also serves as a bridge between the U.S. and China for future collaboration and knowledge sharing.