National Committee on U.S.-China Relations

In conversation with NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins, South China Morning Post CEO Gary Liu talks about the opportunity to transform the SCMP into a digital media brand, the challenges of running a newspaper in the current media landscape, and retaining SCMP's unique editorial voice.

Gary Liu, CEO of the South China Morning Post since January 2017, discussed the challenges in leading what has been the foremost English-language publication in Hong Kong for over a century. Gary Liu became CEO of the South China Morning Post in January 2017. Headquartered in Hong Kong, SCMP is Asia’s leading magazine publisher, with a portfolio of lifestyle and fashion titles including Cosmopolit...

In this episode of the National Committee's PROFILES podcast series, Vice President Jan Berris interviews longtime friend of the National Committee Tom Gold. A professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, Prof. Gold talks about how he became interested in China at Oberlin College, his time as an interpreter and student in China, and working with the National Committee’s Public Intellectuals Program.

In a conversation with fellow University of Toronto professor Sida Liu, Diana Fu discusses her new book, Mobilizing Without the Masses: Contention and Control in China. Dr. Diana Fu is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto and an affiliate of the Munk School of Global Affairs Asian Institute. Her research examines the relationship between popular contention, stat...

The recent proposal to remove presidential term limits in China has prompted questions about the country’s future development, and the historical legacy of China’s past authoritarian leaders seems relevant once again. How should we understand the current direction of China’s political culture? In a newly revised and updated book, modern China historians Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Cunningham rev...

In this episode of the National Committee's PROFILES podcast series, Vice President Jan Berris interviews Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, modern China historians and authors of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know. Drs. Wasserstrom and Cunningham talk about how they have taken an unconventional route by not confining their work to the academic realm. Dr. Wasse...

In this interview with National Committee Senior Director for Educational Programs Margot Landman, Dr. Szu-chien Hsu discusses his work as the president of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD). He talks about why he believes in the mission of TFD, how democratic values are being threatened worldwide, and his research findings on the political activism of Taiwan's youth. Dr. Szu-chien Hsu is p...

With the Sunflower Movement of 2014, Taiwanese youth became a significant factor in Taiwan’s politics. In the aftermath of the protests, some assume that young Taiwanese uniformly believe that Taiwan should keep its distance from the Chinese mainland. In fact, however, many have moved to mainland metropolises seeking employment. What does Taiwan’s younger generation really think about China, democ...

In this episode of the National Committee's PROFILES podcast series, Vice President Jan Berris interviews Dr. Joe Tucker, an infectious diseases physician who researches innovative ways to combat STDs like HIV/AIDS and syphilis in China. Here Dr. Tucker talks about combining his interests in China and medicine, his work using crowdsourcing to improve public health in southern China, and how health...

In this interview, professor Carl Minzner discusses his new book, End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival is Undermining its Rise with National Committee President Stephen Orlins. He talks about what inspired him to write the book, how norms established in the Reform Era are breaking down, and whether the Chinese government's actions have historical precedent in other countries. Carl Minz...

Four decades of non-stop economic growth has encouraged the view that China’s ruling elite comprises men of supernatural technocratic ability who can successfully navigate any political, social, or economic challenge. However, according to Professor Carl Minzner, China’s glossy façade obscures mounting social pressures and the increasing brittleness of the regime’s power. In a new book, End of an...

In this interview, journalist Roseann Lake discusses her new book, Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World’s Next Superpower with National Committee Senior Director for Educational Programs Margot Landman. She talks about how she originally became interested in the topic, her research process, and the social barriers that created the “leftover women” phenomenon. Roseann Lake is now The Econ...

What is the size of China’s gender imbalance? Equal to the combined populations of New York State and Pennsylvania combined (approximately 34 million)! The one-child policy is widely seen as the cause of the skewed gender ratio; less studied than the men who are unable to find spouses are the millions of urban, educated women who may also go unwed. Gender roles and expectations have not kept pace...

In this first episode of the National Committee's PROFILES podcast series, Vice President Jan Berris interviews documentary producer Violet Feng, an alum of the Committee's Time Warner Internship program. Ms. Feng talks about making an impact through storytelling, her responsibility to make films for a Chinese audience, and her new film "Maineland," which makes its New York theatrical premiere in...

In the months leading up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, China began making a series of pledges to overhaul its environmental and energy policies. To curb emissions, it announced the creation of a cap-and-trade program, restrictions on domestic coal production, and investment in renewable energy. At the Paris conference, China's top climate negotiator expressed confidence in the measures and...

China’s booming film market has become an essential consideration for the production of Hollywood movies and is expected to overtake the U.S. market by 2017. In an effort to take advantage of this growth, American entertainment conglomerates are increasingly partnering with Chinese studios, and producing products for the Chinese market. So far, they have been highly successful, with four of the te...

Given its experience of colonialism, Africans have long been suspicious of Chinese intentions on the continent. Recent allegations of unprecedented Chinese state-sponsored acquisitions of African farmland have alarmed many who now fear that Africa, with its large tracts of untouched arable land, will enter a new colonial era. In her book, Will Africa Feed China?, leading expert and National Commit...

Born to American missionaries in northern India, John Birch went to China in 1940 as an Independent Baptist missionary. Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Birch volunteered for the U.S. Army to fight the Japanese in China and was recruited by Claire Chennault, leader of the Flying Tigers and the U.S. 14th Air Force, as a field intelligence officer. John Birch is better known today for what...

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Human Rights Press Award, author Mei Fong discusses China's one child policy, women's issues and child adoptions in a candid discussion of her recent book, One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment, with National Committee Senior Director for Education Programs Margot Landman. Despite its implementation at a time of global concern about over-populatio...

In this podcast, Dr. Elanah Uretsky discusses her recent book, Occupational Hazards: Sex, Business, and HIV in Post-Mao China, with National Committee Program Officer Maura Cunningham. The book follows a group of Chinese businessmen and government officials as they conduct business in Beijing and western Yunnan Province, uncovering informal networks that result in political favors for the business...

In the months leading up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, China began making a series of pledges to overhaul its environmental and energy policies. To curb emissions, it announced the creation of a cap-and-trade program, restrictions on domestic coal production, and investment in renewable energy. At the Paris conference, China's top climate negotiator expressed confidence in the measures and...

Dr. John Garver, author of China’s Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China discussed his book with National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Vice President Jan Berris on April 14, 2016 in New York City. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, China was in a state of disarray. Decades of occupation and civil war had left the country fractu...

With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese communist leadership established a formal alliance with the Soviet Union. The pact between the two communist giants proved to be short-lived as ideological differences between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, coupled with the growing fear in China of Soviet encirclement, compromised the a...

Some people argue that the global balance of power is shifting away from the North Atlantic and toward the Asia-Pacific as countries such as India and China gain economic, military, and political influence. India and China may appear to be developing new international systems – for example, through the AIIB – that could threaten the post-war order developed by the United States and Western Europe....

Kenneth Jarrett, President, American Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai, discusses China’s economy, current economic data and the business climate in China. Mr. Jarrett also remarks on what American companies can expect in navigating the Chinese market as global and internal economic factors affect the U.S. and Chinese economies, in a conversation with National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Preside...