Learn how Asia is changing the world

January 2, 2007

CORDILLERA - What do Korea's broadband revolution, Singapore's massive investment in biotechnology and China's growing economic and military strength have in common? They are all evidence of how changes in Asia will transform the world as we know it, in ways we would not expect. The Vail Symposium's Hot Topic series kicks off Thursday presenting insights on these current events and explaining how Asia is changing the world.

Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl will lead the discussion from 5:30-7:15 p.m. at Chaparral, Cordillera Valley Club, in Edwards. Metzl is an expert on Asian history and politics. His government appointments have included deputy staff director and senior counselor of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, senior coordinator for international public information and director for multilateral and humanitarian affairs on the National Security Council. At the White House, he coordinated U.S. government international public-information campaigns for Iraq, Kosovo and other crises.

A Khmer speaker, he was a human rights officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia from 1991 to 1993, where he helped establish a nationwide human rights investigation and monitoring unit for Cambodia. Metzl has appeared widely on national media, including "Meet the Press" and the "Today" show.

He is the author of a book on human rights in Southeast Asia, as well as the novel "The Depths of the Sea." His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and many other publications. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a co-chair of the Board of the Partnership for a Secure America and a former White House Fellow.

He holds a doctorate in Southeast Asian history from Oxford University, a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University. Metzl's presentation is the inaugural event of a new partnership between the Vail Symposium and the international organization the Asia Society.

The Asia Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to strengthening relationships and deepening understanding among the peoples of Asia and the United States. The society provides a forum for building awareness of the more than 30 countries broadly defined as the Asia-Pacific region - the area from Japan to Iran - and from Central Asia to New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

The organization presents the uniqueness and diversity of Asia through art exhibitions and performances, films, lectures, seminars and conferences, publications and assistance to the media, and materials and programs for students and teachers.Metzl's presentation will take place Thursday at Chaparral, Cordillera Valley Club, in Edwards (near Singletree).

Admission to this event is $20 for Vail Symposium supporters and $25 for all others. Light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available from 5:30-6 p.m., followed by Metzl's lecture from 6-7:15 p.m.. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.vailsymposium.org or call (970) 476-0954.