National Committee On United States-china Relations

China and the United States are the world powers of the 21st century. With many differences in political philosophy and diplomatic methods, they approach each other warily and communicate poorly. In Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, a former Singaporean diplomat and prolific scholar with access to policymakers in Beijing and Washington, has written a guide to the deep fault lines in the relationship, an assessment of the risks of confrontation, and an appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses, and superpower eccentricities, of the United States and China.   The National Committee held a virtual program on October 5, 2020 with Professor Kishore Mahbubani.

How has China grown so fast for so long despite extensive corruption? In China's Gilded Age, Yuen Yuen Ang argues that although all corruption is harmful, it does not always hurt growth. Different forms of corruption have disparate impact; certain types actually stimulate investment and development while simultaneously posing serious risks for economic and political systems. Using a range of sources, Dr. Ang explains the evolution of Chinese corruption, how it differs from that of the West and other developing countries, and how President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign could affect growth and governance. On September 30, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program with Professor Yuen Yuen Ang.

Dori Jones Yang was among the first American correspondents to cover China at the beginning of the reform era. Her memoir, When the Red Gates Opened, follows her rise from rookie reporter to experienced journalist. Her cross-cultural romance gave her deeper insights into how Deng Xiaoping’s reforms led to hopes for better lives. This sense of possibility reached its peak in 1989, when peaceful protesters filled Tiananmen Square, demanding democracy, among other things. On the ground in Beijing, Ms. Yang shared that hope, as well as the despair that followed. After Tiananmen, she returned to the United States, continuing to watch closely as China’s growth resumed. The National Committee held a virtual program with author Ms. Dori Jones Yang on September 23, 2020 to discuss her book.

At a time when prominent voices in the U.S. foreign policy community – from both sides of the aisle – are calling upon the United States to take a new approach towards China, many are putting forward new ideas to define what a "new era" would look like. An increasingly timely discussion has revolved around making more direct connections between gender equality and national security – a "Feminist Foreign Policy." On September 18, 2020, the National Committee held a virtual Congressional staff briefing with Stephenie Foster, Sarah Kemp, and Wenchi Yu, about feminist foreign policy and what its implementation could mean for the evolving U.S.-China relationship.

On September 17, 2020, Rhodium Group’s founding partner Daniel Rosen and its "Two-Way Street" report authors Thilo Hanemann and Adam Lysenko joined National Committee President Stephen Orlins to discuss their latest report, a mid-year review of the latest trends in U.S.-China investment and an analysis of the political dynamics and market developments behind them. Read the new mid-year report on ncuscr.org

Starting with Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, and concluding with Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, and James Baker, with comments on the foreign policies of Presidents Trump and Obama, in /America in the World/ Robert Zoellick tells the story of U.S. diplomacy. The National Committee held a virtual program on September 15, 2020 with Ambassador Robert Zoellick in conversation with Financial Times editor and correspondent Lionel Barber. The event was hosted by National Committee Vice Chair Evan Greenberg and National Committee President Stephen Orlins.

Just as world maps look different depending on where they are produced, so narratives of world history vary according to who is telling the story. In /Superpower Interrupted/, Michael Schuman describes how the Chinese view their own and world history and how those perceptions shape China's economic policy, attitudes toward the world, relations with its neighbors, positions on democracy and human rights, and notions of good governance. The National Committee held a virtual program with author Michael Schuman on September 10, 2020.

China faces major demographic, economic, social, political, and foreign policy challenges. The experts whose analyses make up Fateful Decisions examine the choices facing China’s leaders. President Xi Jinping has laid out ambitious goals with little in the way of detailed policy to explain how they will be achieved. A s China’s economy slows and population ages, the demand for and costs of health care, elder care, education, and other social benefits are increasing. At the same time, global ambitions and an increasingly assertive military compete for funding and attention. The contributors to the volume examine what is at stake, possible options, and resulting outcomes. The National Committee held a virtual program with Dr. Thomas Fingar and Dr. Jean Oi on August 20, 2020 to discuss their edited volume, Fateful Decisions: Choices that Will Shape China’s Future.

On August 17, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program with retired American diplomats Susan Thornton and Beatrice Camp to discuss the place of diplomacy in U.S. policy toward China and beyond.

Paul Pickowicz, long a professor of Chinese history at the University of California, San Diego, was among the first Americans to go to China after the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949. He kept a detailed journal and took nearly a thousand photographs during his four-week stay, some of which are collected in A Sensational Encounter with High Socialist China, a recollection of the historic visit. Professor Pickowicz uses the five senses to draw the reader into his experiences. The National Committee hosted a virtual program on August 11, 2020 with Dr. Paul Pickowicz to discuss his book and the very different China and era in U.S.-China relations that it portrays.

As U.S.-China relations continue to deteriorate, two components of the relationship that have been successful in the past are increasingly coming under attack: higher education and scientific collaboration. On August 6, 2020, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, and Michigan-China Innovation Center held the final in a series of “Bilateral Breakdown” webinars exploring U.S.-China relations through the lens of disengagement. Speakers Philip Bucksbaum, who holds several positions at Stanford University and its SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and is also the current president of the American Physical Society, and Bradley Farnsworth, vice president of the American Council on Education, discussed the effects the downturn in U.S.-China relations is having on American innovation and competitiveness, international students and universities, and research and development. Mary Gallagher, director of the University of Michigan’s International Institute and the

Recent Executive Orders banning transactions with ByteDance and Tencent in 45 days have left the future of Tiktok and WeChat in the United States in question. What do they mean for U.S.-China technology decoupling and two-way venture capital investing? What are the implications for U.S.-China relations? The National Committee held an urgent discussion with cybersecurity expert Ms. Melissa Hathaway and tech investor Mr. Gary Rieschel on August 13, 2020 to discuss the reasons for the Executive Orders and the potential outcomes.

On August 5, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program with - Anla Cheng, founder & CEO of SupChina - Erika Lee, Regents Professor of American History and director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota - Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of the Museum of Chinese in America - Jerry Yang, National Committee board member and co-founder and former CEO of Yahoo! The speakers discussed discrimination, generational divides, the model minority myth, and Sino-American relations.

In September 2011, sheriff’s deputies noticed three ethnic Chinese men near an Iowa cornfield. What started as a trespassing inquiry turned into a two-year FBI operation in which investigators bugged the men’s rental cars, used a warrant intended for foreign terrorists and spies, and flew surveillance planes over corn country – all to protecting Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer trade secrets. In The Scientist and the Spy, Mara Hvistendahl describes the unusually far-reaching investigation, which pitted a veteran FBI special agent assigned to fight a national-security priority against Florida resident Robert Mo, who after his academic career faltered took a questionable job with a Chinese agricultural company as a way to support his family. Industrial espionage by Chinese companies, a real issue, is among the reasons that the Trump administration gives when explaining the genesis of the U.S.-China trade war, and a top counterintelligence target of the FBI. Have efforts to address the problem been successful?  With

In mid-July 2020, the National Committee convened a virtual session of its U.S.-China Track II Dialogue on Healthcare.  Coming in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the participants focused on how our two nations can work together on global health crises in such areas as public health reforms, containment strategies, and healthcare delivery. On July 30, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual public event to hear takeaways and lessons learned from the Healthcare Dialogue discussions. National Committee President Stephen Orlins led a conversation with George Gao, Director, China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Margaret Hamburg, Foreign Secretary, National Academy of Medicine and former Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration; Gordon Liu, PKU BOYA Professor of Economics, Ministry of Education Yangtze River Scholar Professor of Economics, National School of Development, Peking University; former FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, Director, Robert J Margolis Center for Health Policy and Ma

In October 2015, during the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, the Party committed to eliminating rural poverty by 2020. The goal was reiterated at the 19th National Party Congress in 2017. Now that we are halfway through 2020, what is the state of poverty elimination in rural China? What has been the impact of COVID-19? How are “left behind” children doing, especially now that some migrant laborers have been unable to return to their urban jobs because of the coronavirus? How do environmental issues, cultural preservation, and ethnic tourism fit in?       On July 23, 2020, the National Committee held a virtual program with Ms. Mei Lan, born and raised in a Chinese village, and Mr. Matthew Chitwood, an American who lived in the Chinese countryside until late last year, to discuss the current situation in rural China.

In April 2020, reports about the poor treatment of African residents in Guangzhou were published around the world, including in the United States. COVID-19 had exacerbated the sometimes tense relationship between Africans and Chinese in China. China has invested in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors across Africa in recent decades, as well as in infrastructure development through loans, export credits, and official development assistance. What is the nature of the financing, and of the relationships between China and African nations? What does Chinese policy toward Africa mean for the United States, its bilateral relationship with China, and its relationships with the countries of Africa? On June 24, 2020, the National Committee held a virtual program with Professor Deborah Bräutigam, one of the world’s foremost experts on China and Africa and a National Committee board member, and Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and former assistant secretary of state for African affa

On June 18, 2020, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations hosted a webinar with Frank H. Wu, President of Queens College and former President of the Committee of 100. In a moderated conversation with NCUSCR President Steve Orlins, Mr. Wu discussed the impact that coronavirus and the U.S. Department of Justice's China Initiative will have on higher education and the future of Chinese students in the United States. He also elaborated on the continuing importance of educational exchange.   This program was originally held exclusively for participants from the National Committee’s next generation leadership initiatives, including alumni of the U.S. Foreign Policy Colloquium, the Student Leaders Exchange, and the Schwarzman Scholars Program. The event was designed not only as a unique opportunity to hear from Mr. Wu, but also for the Committee's network of program participants and alumni to connect across the United States and China.   About Frank H. Wu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_H._Wu

In her new book, "Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese Undergraduates Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education," based on research conducted both in the United States and in China, Yingyi Ma argues that Chinese college student experiences of American education spring from the enormous social changes in China of the last few decades, creating both ambition and anxiety. She offers some policy suggestions to American educators and administrators, starting with the recruitment process, running through classroom practices, and concluding with career services. On June 23, 2020, the National Committee held a virtual program with Dr. Ma where she discussed her book. Speaker bio: ncuscr.org/event/ambitious-and-anxious

What were some of the forces roiling Shanghai, and by extension, China as a whole, in the early 1940’s? In Champions Day: The End of Old Shanghai, Dr. James Carter describes the many worlds of Shanghai on the eve of World War II, focusing on the city’s famed race track a few weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.   In capturing the confluence of these three disparate, coexisting worlds on November 12, 1941, Professor Carter explores the multi-faceted history of old Shanghai and the various international influences, characters, and events that shaped the city’s evolution and its profound schisms. He joined the National Committee on June 16, 2020 for a virtual program to discuss his new book.   Speaker bio: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/carter-champions-day