A week long, campus-wide discussion of China came to a close last night during a panel discussion held at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

About 100 people attended the talk, titled "Reflections on the Visit of President Jiang Zemin."

The strongest message was sent by Lobsang Sangay, a Tibetan activist and Ph.D. student at the Harvard Law School who expressed his frustration with the exclusion of Tibet from discussions on China.

Lobsang described the situation as a "taboo" on Tibet and urged the University to focus more attention on the Tibetan people.

"I appeal to Harvard University and the Fairbank Center [for East Asian Studies] to facilitate forums [on Tibet]," he said.

Lobsang said that the rallies this weekend helped the Tibetan cause.

"Jiang heard loud and clear that Tibet is a serious issue," he said.

Attendants at the discussion, moderated by Professor of History William C. Kirby, said it seemed to lack the energy of the earlier discussions leading up to Jiang's visit.

At the previous discussions, "a lot of people were blowing off steam," said Adam Brookes, a visiting scholar at the Fairbank Center.

But the audience did not seem to mind the peace.

"I am very happy that this panel was much less adversarial. People were dealing with issues," said Eric D. Mortensen, a fifth year graduate student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Among the other issues discussed was the significance of Jiang's visit on U.S.-Sino relations highlighted by Ying-Mao Kau, professor of political science at Brown University.

"The accomplishment is very significant," he said. "It shows confidence building between the two nations."

The panelists were not in agreement about U.S. policy toward China. Kau expressed disagreement with the current policy of engagement.

"I am worried that engagement may turn into some kind of appeasement," he said.