WASHINGTON (XINHUA) - Professor Emeritus Ezra Vogel of Harvard University, a renowned scholar on China, died at the age of 90 on Sunday (Dec 20), according to the Fairbank Centre for Chinese Studies at Harvard.
"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our former director Ezra Vogel (1930-2020)," said the centre on Twitter.
"He was a true champion of our centre, an erudite scholar, and a wonderful friend. He will be truly missed."
The passing of Prof Vogel is "a huge blow to the field, especially at this critical time, because Ezra was a major supporter of the effort to inject greater sanity and balance into US thinking about China", tweeted Dr Michael Swaine, director of the East Asia Programme at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
In an online event last October, Prof Vogel suggested that the United States have high-level talks, intellectual exchanges and economic cooperation with China.
"Competitors can talk as competitors, but it doesn't have to be (as) enemies. It can be competitors; it can be suspicious. But, it can be under some kind of control," he noted.
Prof Vogel once lived in southern China's Guangdong province for one year, and has visited China every year since the late 1980s.
He spent 10 years studying China's former leader Deng Xiaoping and wrote a book titled Deng Xiaoping And The Transformation Of China. Published in 2011, the over 900-page tome has provided a window for Westerners to gain a better understanding of modern China.
In an interview with China's official Xinhua news agency in November 2019, Prof Vogel acknowledged that the Sino-US relations were tense, but added that he believes both Chinese and US officials should work together to pursue their common interests.
"There is a real danger of serious frictions", and it is very important for all who care about good relations with China to do what they can to improve them, he said, stressing that a stable, constructive relationship is vital to the world's two largest economies and the rest of the world.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing on Monday (Dec 21): "Professor Ezra Vogel was a renowned US expert on China and an old friend of the Chinese people... We will remember Professor Vogel's contribution to the development of China-US relations."
Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai also extended his deepest condolences to the family of
Vogel.
"I have known Professor Vogel for a long time and learned a great deal from him. I believe his ideas and commitment will always have an impact on us. My deepest condolences to Professor Vogel's family," he said.
"Throughout his lifetime, he was dedicated to greater mutual understanding between the Chinese and American people and made significant contributions to their friendship and China-US relations," said Cui. "His wisdom and insight on China have been of immeasurable value not only to people in the field of study, but also to the world."
Vogel, together with dozens of other experts and former senior US officials, released a joint statement in April, urging the United States to cooperate with China to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ezra is also a leading expert on Japan and is widely known for his 1979 book Japan As Number One: Lessons For America, which was a best seller in Japan.
The US Embassy in Tokyo honoured Vogel, saying in a Twitter post: "Ezra Vogel's scholarship brought Americans and Japanese closer together. Thirty years later, his book Japan As Number One is still essential reading for understanding Japan's economic might," Kyodo News reported.
