China Digest #58

covid

Hosted by Bonnie S. Glaser, the ChinaPower Podcast dissects critical issues underpinning China’s emergence as a global power.

China Power

Ties between the US and Chinese militaries are deepening at the same time that strategic competition between them is increasing, especially in the Asia-Pacific. The US is hoping that efforts such as the establishment of the Strategic Security Dialogue in 2012 and the inclusion of China in Rim of the Pacific naval exercises will help avoid miscalculation that could escalate to a political or even military crisis. In this episode, we welcome Phillip C. Saunders as we discuss both the progress that’s been made and the persistent challenges in US-China military relations.

US-China Military Ties: A Conversation with Phillip C. Saunders

China’s Energy Security: A Conversation with Zha Daojiong

Space is a tool of national power, and China’s space programs, like those of the United States and other countries, have both political and strategic objectives. One focus of China’s space program is on human spaceflight, and Chinese leaders are aiming to achieve a lunar landing in the 2030’s. China is utilizing space for communications, science, and military purposes. China’s space program is a source of pride for the Chinese people and a component of Chinese soft power. In this episode, we welcome Joan Johnson-Freese as we discuss China’s ongoing efforts and objectives of its space program.

China’s Race to Space: A Conversation with Joan Johnson-Freese

China’s new Overseas Non-Governmental Organization Law took effect on January 1st and is aimed primarily at reducing the influence of foreign actors on domestic affairs. Beijing now requires foreign organizations to register with the Ministry of Public Security and have an official Chinese sponsor or host organization. These measures have prompted international concern that Beijing will use its new regulations to constrain or even expel organizations advocating for human rights, women’s issues, public health and environmental protection. In this episode, we welcome Dr. Sophie Richardson as we discuss the implications of the law for China’s development as a modern society and a country that aims to play a bigger role in global governance.

China’s New Foreign NGO Law: A Conversation with Sophie Richardson

Russia and China, despite a contentious history, have been increasing strategic cooperation in ways that affect U.S. interests. In a special crossover episode between the ChinaPower podcast and Russian Roulette, we sit down with Olga Oliker and Jeff Mankoff of the Russia Program at CSIS. In this episode, we discuss Beijing’s view of its place in the world and how Moscow fits into this vision, Moscow’s priorities in its relations with China and Asia more broadly, and how this all impacts Russia’s and China’s respective relationships with the United States.

Russia, China, and the Global Order: A Conversation with Olga Oliker and Jeff Mankoff

For the past few years the U.S.-China interaction in high tech has gradually shifted in emphasis from cooperation to competition. The U.S. has adopted a variety of stern “defensive” measures, China has made technology independence an important goal, and both are trying to attract support for their initiatives from other countries in Asia and Europe. Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed this trajectory? Should we expect greater confrontation, or are there new opportunities for cooperation, particularly in bio-tech? And what is likely to happen when the pandemic is behind us? Three of the world’s keenest tech sector observers — Gary Rieschel, Rebecca Fannin, and Andrew Browne — will offer their reactions to these questions, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

This is an online, public event that will be held on the Zoom platform and livestreamed on Facebook. You will be emailed the login information for Zoom as well as how to watch live online. To watch on Facebook, visit our program page here.

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS and the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics.

Online Event: US-China Tech Competition and Cooperation in the COVID-19 Era

This episode explores China’s efforts to integrate its military and civilian sectors to support its military development and broader national security agenda. Our guest, Mr. Greg Levesque, discusses how Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) fits into China’s grand strategy and evaluates how effectively it has implemented the program to date. Mr. Levesque also weighs the risks and rewards of MCF in Beijing’s strategic calculus, and offers a path for how the US and its allies can respond to the growing nexus between military and civil development in China.
 
Greg Levesque is co-founder and CEO of Strider, a technology company enabling organizations to combat intellectual property theft and supply chain vulnerabilities outside of the cyber domain. Greg has advised and supported Fortune 500 companies as well as US and European government agencies on matters of economic statecraft, particularly around China.

Xi Jinping's Military-Civil Fusion Project: A Conversation with Greg Levesque

This episode is part of the National Committee's Coronavirus Impact Series: www.ncuscr.org/coronavirus

Principal of Albright Stonebridge Group Amy Celico explains the fundamental challenges currently facing the bilateral commercial relationship between the United States and China. She also discusses why the “phase one” trade deal is a positive development and how COVID-19 is highlighting the role of foreign investors in China’s economic growth trajectory.

Amy Celico is a principal at the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) and leads the firm’s D.C.-based China practice, assisting corporate and non-profit clients develop and expand their business in China.

Coronavirus Economic Impact: U.S.-China Commercial Relations, Challenges and Opportunities

This episode is part of the National Committee's Coronavirus Impact Series: https://www.ncuscr.org/coronavirus

Leadership in both China and the United States continue to face the common crisis of a once-in-a-century pandemic and its aftermath. Political scientist Dr. Yuen Yuen Ang uses power insecurity to explore the apparent contradiction of worsening U.S.-China relations despite the powerful and ongoing incentive for collaboration.

Dr. Ang is an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. She is the author of, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (Cornell, 2016), and the forthcoming, China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption (Cambridge, 2020).

Coronavirus Political Impact: Power Insecurity Threatens U.S.-China Relations

The arrival of the coronavirus in both China and the United States has further strained an already frayed bilateral relationship. Yet, if the world is to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future health crises, the two nations must work together to confront the immediate issues of medical treatment and equipment, and the longer-term need to develop and produce necessary vaccines.

On April 28, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program where Joan Kaufman of Schwarzman Scholars moderated a conversation with two leading medical experts: Margaret Hamburg of the National Academy of Medicine and Winnie Yip of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, during which they discussed the potential for collaboration between the United States and China on global health strategies.

For more information on the potential economic, social, and political impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, and its long-term implications for U.S.-China relations, please visit ncuscr.org/coronavirus

COVID-19 and the U.S.-China Relationship: Lessons for Collaboration in Global Health

Can Sino-Russian Territorial Dispute Settlement be an example for Russia and Japan?

Speakers:
Alexander Lukin and Olga Puzanova, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Alexander Lukin is Head of the Department of International Relations at National Research University Higher School of Economics, Director of the Center for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) and Chair Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Zhejiang University (China). He received his first degree from MGIMO University in 1984, a doctorate in politics from Oxford University in 1997, a doctorate in history from Russian Diplomatic Academy in 2007 and a professional development degree in theology from St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University in 2013. He is the author of The Political Culture of the Russian Democrats (Oxford University Press, 2000), The Bear Watches the Dragon: Russia’s Perceptions of China and the Evolution of Russian-Chinese Relations since the Eighteenth Century (M.E.Sharpe, 2003), Grasping Russia with your Mind (with Pavel Lukin, Ves’ Mir, 2015, in Russian), Pivot to Asia: Russia’s Foreign Policy Enters the 21st Century (Vij Books India, 2016), China and Russia: The New Rapprochement (Polity, 2018), Russia: A Thorny Transition from Communism (Vij Books India, 2019), as well as numerous articles and policy papers on international relations, Russian and Chinese politics.

Olga Puzanova is a Lecturer at the Department of International Relations and Researcher at the International Laboratory of World Order Studies and the New Regionalism at National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. She received her bachelor degree in international journalism from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), M.Phil in Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford and is now in the final stage of her D.Phil studies at the University of Oxford. She is the author of several articles on Japanese media, politics and Russian-Japanese relations, which were published in leading international journals, including  “Russia’s Policy toward Japan and Regional Security in the Asia‐Pacific,” Asian Politics and Policy. 2019. Vol. 10. No. 4. P. 677-692 and  “Japan’s Eurasian diplomacy: Successes and failures (1997-2017)”, Journal of Eurasian Studies. 2018. Vol. 9. No. 2. P. 134-142 (with Oleg Paramonov). She also serves as a contributor to country reports of The Asan Forum (South Korea).

This event was recorded on Zoom as part of the Fairbank Center's Critical Issues Confronting China lecture series, hosted by Professor Ezra Vogel. The recording features the presentation, but not the Q&A.

Sino-Russian Territorial Dispute Settlement, with Alexander Lukin and Olga Puzanova

Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim minorities have disappeared into a vast network of ‘re-education camps’ in the far west region of Xinjiang in what some experts call a systematic, government-led program of cultural genocide.

Now it appears that plans have entered a new phase, as government officials now claim that all ‘trainees’ have ‘graduated’. There is mounting evidence that many Uyghurs are now being forced to work in factories within Xinjiang.

Guest: 
Associate Professor James Leibold (Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University)