Relations between the United States and China have suffered since a spy plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island following an April 1 mid-air collision, but exchange programs at West Virginia Universitys College of Business and Economics are actually expanding.

The international incident, which has caused ongoing tensions, is having little effect on plans for WVU s annual exchanges, and several B&E faculty plan to leave for China this month.

Since 1994 the Center for Chinese Business (CCB) in WVU s College of Business and Economics has provided Chinese executives with the latest techniques and trends in business management in Shanghai and Tianjin in eastern China. This year the program is expanding to a third location, Xian, a city in central China southwest of Beijing.

The only program affected is a three-week study-abroad for WVU students and business executives that has been postponed until next year.

“I think theres a significant difference if youre talking about relations between the two governments or between the people and businesses on both sides,”said William B. Riley Jr, director of the program.”So our programs for executives are not being affected.”

Not only will WVU faculty and business executives travel to China to teach this summer, but also the College of Business and Economics will be host for the first time to a group of between 15-20 MBA students from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, who will attend WVU classes beginning this fall.

While the crippled EP-3 plane sits on a Hainan runway and diplomats and military officials on both sides negotiate its fate, the CCB is planning two other exchanges this year. One will bring approximately 20 business men from Shenyang, a city of about 7 million people in northern China, to the WVU campus for a two-week course. Another program will bring 15 Chinese government officials from Tianjin, 10 from Shanghai and two from Xian to Morgantown for a six-month stay next fall.

All CCB programs focus on guanxi and huhui , two principles of Chinese culture Dr. Riley said are essential to business success.”Without guanxi and huhui , a business person will have problems in China,”he said. Guanxi is an interconnected web of personal relationships with influential people based on mutual obligations. Huhui is a principle of clearly understood mutual benefit.

The exchange programs not only provide educational opportunities, Riley said, but they also offer the chance for businesses on both sides of the world to form relationships and potential partnerships. Cisco Systems, an international networking leader, and TRW , a global technology, manufacturing and service company, are co-sponsors of the program and”committed to China for the long run,”Riley said. Temporary events, he said, dont interfere with their long-term relationship.

Speaking at the Fortune Global Forum in Hong Kong this week, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said his country is committed to”unswervingly open up and internationalize”its economy, and WVU s relationship, Riley commented, is part of that internationalizing. Zemin will be host to U.S. President George Bush in Shanghai this October.

“As China enters the new world economy, business and university relationships are regarded as long-term, based on friendship, trust and partnership,”he said.”Once this relationship is established, world events between governments, which we know will happen, wont interfere.”