Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. was the keynote speaker at a conference on China on August 17, 2002, sponsored by the Institute of Sino Strategic Studies (ISSS) in Whittier, California. The Institute held a well-attended special press conference prior to the opening of the conference, to introduce LaRouche and the other speakers to the Chinese-language press. More than ten news services with correspondents in California attended. The introduction of LaRouche, and statements from the other participants, showed the high esteem in which he is held among the conference organizers and other scholars and political activists present. Dr. Tie Lin Yin, for example, a leading advocate of peaceful Chinese reunification, referred to LaRouche as "the distinguished thinker," adding that, to him, there is no higher designation than that. Zhong Jian Hua, the Consul General of the People's Republic of China, was the sponsor of the pre-conference reception, at which he and Lyndon LaRouche gave remarks. http://www.schillerinstitute.org/lar_related/2002/china/lar_spch_pr.html