The 2009 Freeman Foundation Symposium will focus on the change of leadership in the United States and examine potential new approaches in the US-East Asian relationship during the course of the next administration. The Symposium will focus on several major areas of US-East Asian relations, starting with a broad assessment of the state of the pacific region, its challenges and issues, and the new US administration's foreign policy goals. The Symposium will also examine the region's economic outlook, including underlying trends such as the impacts and consequences of the current economic downturn, as well as the potential for an increase in trade and investment protectionism.

Further, the Symposium will devote significant attention to an assessment of the implications of China's strengths and vulnerabilities for the new US administration, including ways in which China's current role and future trajectories differ from perspectives outside of China. Finally, the Symposium will address key global and regional issues such as climate policy, internal conflict, the potential for greater technology sharing, and education and labor issues.

The 2009 Freeman Foundation Symposium is by invitation only, and is the twelfth in a series of Symposia dedicated to increasing cooperation and understanding throughout the Asia-Pacific Region.