Telling the truth is a duty for scholars, American writer and scholar Ezra Vogel told Xinhua at the BOAO Forum for Asia that opened on Sunday in south China's Hainan Province.

Vogel, a Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University, is an expert on Asia studies, especially on China and Japan.

Despite his contributions to promoting "the real China" in his home country, the 82-year-old writer remained low-key at the high-profile event.

His book "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China" (2011) has won many awards and made him a top U.S. authority on China. The Chinese-language edition of the book went on sale on Jan. 18.

Throughout the forum, he has sat quietly away from the crowd and listened intently, waiting until reporters left before he would speak to other scholars or public figures.

Invited for the first time, he said he attended the forum to visit his old friends, whom he met while doing research on Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer of China's reform and opening-up strategy.

With fluent Chinese coming out of his mostly smiling lips, he appeared easygoing, though he never failed to share his frank and sharp opinions.

"I always tell the truth," Vogel told a Xinhua reporter in Chinese, adding that he prefers not to fawn over others.

He criticized the BOAO forum for inviting few foreigners, limiting the amount of different ideas that could be shared.

Vogel chose the word "unstable" to describe the current situation in Asia, adding that he believes most Americans disagree with the "China threat" theory, but they do "worry" about China's development.

In the spirit of pursuing fact, Vogel spent 10 years collecting and studying materials on Deng Xiaoping and interviewing relevant Chinese and foreign officials.

"The only thing I cared about was whether I told the truth," he said, "I tried to put people back into their historical context in order to tell readers why things happened."

Despite controversy surrounding the book, "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China" has been praised as a milestone in Deng scholarship.

Vogel has spent over one month promoting his book throughout China. Not out to simply turn a profit, he said he hoped to get feedback from various Chinese readers.

He plans to donate all the proceeds from book sales in China to Ohio Wesleyan University, the university where he studied in the Midwestern United States.

"One of my major jobs is to introduce more Americans to China's real history and situation," he said.

Vogel is also fluent in Japanese, as Japan was his first research subject.

"Many people think I stand by China's side," he explained. "I support both China and Japan in establishing good relationships with the U.S., so I'm not happy to see these two neighboring countries having fights."

When asked about his next book, he said it is likely to be about Asia, possibly focusing on the shift from fast economic growth to slower expansion in Asian countries.

"I'm 82 years old, so writing a book needs the permission of my body." he said.