Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Ming Hei Harvey Hong. I am a junior student at the Washington University in St. Louis. My majors are Political Science and History. I am particularly interested in Chinese history and politics, especially history of Chinese Foreign Relations.

I interned at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in the summer of 2008. I worked at the Commerce and Economics Development Bureau, and assisted in the drafting of the Amendment of the Copyright Ordinance of Hong Kong.  I hope to contribute to the US-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program by my insights from the experience I had with intellectual property rights protection in Hong Kong and China, as well as the broader issues of trade and commerce in the region.

Why did you apply to this program?

I am interested in a career path that is related to government and international politics, and this program provides both of these elements. I believe that I will be able to learn a great deal about the US-China trade from this program, as well as acquiring hands-on experience of work related to diplomacy.

Please identify the single aspect in US-China relations that you are most interested.

I am most interested in how trade affects domestic political arrangement in the two countries.

What are your top professional goals? What do you want to accomplish during your internship?

My professional goals are to be in a career related to international relations, or government and administration. I want to make use of what I learnt from college and put it into practical use.

I want to gain more experience in jobs related to diplomacy and government, in order to give me better training and credentials. Besides, I want to meet more people who are concerned and informed in the US-China diplomacy.

How will the U.S.-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program help you and your country in the future?

As I have just taken a course titled “Politics of International Trade”, I learnt a lot about how trade and politics are intertwined. Through participating in this program, I hope to observe first-hand how trade and politics are played out in the international arena, and how they reconcile with the theories I learnt in class. As for my country, which is China, and hometown, Hong Kong SAR, I believe this internship program will help produce a group of experts who are knowledgeable in US-China trade issues. They will be able to assist in the development of this bilateral trade relationship in whatever endeavours they pursue.