The personal foundation of MayorMichael R. Bloombergof New York is also a donor. Mr. Bloomberg’s media company is trying to lease more news and data terminals to state-owned banks, but it has been stymied by the government since the company’s publication last year of an investigation into the financial dealings of Mr. Xi’s family.

The scholarship’s advisory board is a who’s who of investors, diplomats and other influential figures, some of whom also have political or financial ties to China. It includes three former secretaries of state, Condoleezza Rice, Colin L. Powelland Henry A. Kissinger; two former treasury secretaries, Robert E. Rubinand Henry M. Paulson Jr.; a number of university presidents and cultural figures, including the cellist Yo-Yo Ma; former President Nicolas Sarkozyof France; and the former prime ministers of three countries, Tony Blair of Britain, Kevin Rudd of Australia and Brian Mulroney of Canada.

Many large Western companies have been pressing for closer ties with China even as security experts warn about China’s military expansion and territorial claims, and many smaller businesses and labor groups warn that China seeks to dominate a wide range of industries.

Mr. Schwarzman said his concern was that as long as the Chinese economy grows two to three times as quickly as the American economy, and with European economies barely growing at all, tensions are likely only to rise.

“The idea was to deal with this problem in a generational manner,” he said in a video interview from New York, adding later in an e-mail, “I feel grateful to be able to have the resources to help change future leaders to impact their countries’ and China’s destinies.”

The program plans to take in 10,000 students over the next 50 years, forming an international network that can bridge differences between China and the West, he said. Forty-five percent will come from the United States, 20 percent from China, and 35 percent from Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the rest of Asia. Africa may be added later.