National Committee on U.S.-China Relations

As tensions continue to rise between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, analysts and officials warn of a growing risk of military conflict, which could potentially draw in the United States. How worried should we be about a war in the Taiwan Strait? Scott L. Kastner sheds new light on the prospects for cross-strait military conflict in his new book, War and Peace in the Taiwan Strait. He e...

The growth of markets and consumerism in China’s post-Mao era of political and economic reform is familiar. The Mao period (1949–1976), by contrast, a time of scarcity, appears to have had little material culture. In reality, people attributed great meaning to materials and objects, often precisely because they were rare, expensive, and difficult to obtain. Material Contradictions in Mao’s China,...

Stephen Roach’s new book, Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives, examines the ominous trajectory of conflict escalation between the United States and China and offers suggestions for resolution. In just four years, two countries have entered a trade war, a tech war, and perhaps a new Cold War. This conflict between the world’s two most powerful nations would not ha...

Former Ambassador to China, Russia, and Singapore Jon M. Huntsman Jr. was the featured speaker for CHINA Town Hall 2022, a national conversation on how the U.S.-China relationship affects our communities. From supply chains to national security, new technologies to climate change, the future of both countries will be determined by their relations with one another and the global community. The Nati...

For much of 2022, the entire planet has been struggling to cope with extreme weather events, ranging from brutal heatwaves and severe droughts in some regions to record rainfall and catastrophic flooding in others. Despite this, in early August, Beijing suspended ongoing U.S.-China talks on climate change in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. While some climate experts have argued that wh...

In conversation with National Committee President Steve Orlins, Cheng Li provides fresh insights into the main surprises on the personnel front. In addition, Dr. Li discusses whether the appointments reveal any shifts in the balance of power and factional fault lines in Zhongnanhai, what the new leadership suggests about the trajectory of domestic and foreign policy, and what Xi Jinping might have...

In Trafficking Data, Aynne Kokas examines how technology firms in the two largest economies in the world, the United States and China, exploit government policy (and the lack thereof) to gather information on citizens, putting American national security at risk. She argues that U.S. government leadership failures, Silicon Valley’s disruption preoccupation, and Wall Street’s addiction to growth hav...

For several decades after “reform and opening” began in 1978, China’s leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy, assuring the world of its peaceful intentions. Then, as Susan Shirk argues in her latest book, Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise, China went from fragile superpower to global heavyweight, threatening Taiwan and its neighbors in the South China Sea, tightening...

For several decades after “reform and opening” began in 1978, China’s leaders adopted a restrained approach to foreign policy, assuring the world of its peaceful intentions. Then, as Susan Shirk argues in her latest book, Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise, China went from fragile superpower to global heavyweight, threatening Taiwan and its neighbors in the South China Sea, tightening...

Semiconductors have become a critical policy issue around the world, making news because of their importance for everything from cellphones to nuclear weapons, as supply chain bottlenecks and political confrontations drive up scarcity and price. Global companies like TSMC and Huawei face difficult operating landscapes as they seek greater regulatory harmonization and clarity. What role do semicond...

For decades Americans have described China as a rising power. That description no longer fits: China has already risen. What does this mean for the U.S.-China relationship, for the global economy, and for international security? Covering security, economics, military development, climate change, public health, science and technology, education, and Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang, the essays in Th...

How does restraint in Chinese statecraft challenge the standard narrative about rising powers’ behavior? Conventional wisdom holds that China’s rise is disrupting the global balance of power in unpredictable ways. However, China has often deferred to the consensus of smaller neighboring countries on regional security. In Power and Restraint in China’s Rise (Columbia University Press), Chin-Hao Hua...

Following decades of growth and development, Chinese officials, businesses, and institutions now play a critical role in every major global issue. The challenges posed by climate change, pandemics, and emerging technologies make dealing with the Chinese state, its firms, and other institutions more complex and more critical than ever before. In China’s Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology a...

China’s economy has grown faster than any other over the last 40 years — but there are troubling signs ahead. How could a Chinese economic downturn affect people in the rest of the world? About the speaker: www.ncuscr.org/event/chinas-rise-global-south/ ___________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to our channel: ncuscr.video/subscribe-youtube Check out the...

Will China become the global leader in higher education in the 21st century? The modern research university was born in 19th century Germany; during the 20th, the United States took the lead. In his book Empires of Ideas, William C. Kirby argues that Chinese universities are among the most innovative educational centers in the world. Professor Kirby examines the successes of several leading univer...

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was first discussed ten years ago. What has happened over the past ten years? Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, BRI’s current state and future trajectories are more confusing and controversial than ever. Do China’s leading coalitions still support BRI? Min Ye discusses the current status and future directions of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in conversation wi...

Taiwan is a major flashpoint amid escalating tensions in U.S.-China relations.  Ryan Hass, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explains U.S. policy on Taiwan and China’s forceful reactions to perceived changes in the status quo. About the speaker: https://ncuscr.org/events/taiwan-china-united-states ___________________________________________________________________________ Subscribe to ou...

Find the link to Michael Swaine's report here: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/threat-inflation-chinese-military/ According to a recent report by Michael D. Swaine, framing the military challenge Beijing poses in alarmist, worst-case ways weakens the U.S. ability to determine the limits of Chinese threats. It also undermines voices within China that favor moderation, raises the danger of Sino-America...

What is Hong Kong? According to the British, a “barren rock” without meaningful history; to China, a part of Chinese soil from the beginning of time, finally returned to its rightful place in 1997. When protests erupted in 2019 and were met with escalating suppression, Louisa Lim, a journalist raised in Hong Kong who as an adult has covered the region for more than a decade, felt compelled to tell...

What does the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover mean for the people of Hong Kong, the PRC, and the world? Much has changed since 1997, when sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Through the lenses of language, politics, and identity, three leading experts discuss the relationship between Hong Kong and Mainland China, how it has evolved over the past 25 year...

In China’s Economic Challenge: Unconventional Success, Albert Keidel examines the economic approaches responsible for China’s 40 years of rapid growth, suggesting how such strategies might be applied elsewhere. He discusses the government’s leadership role, success in poverty reduction, and international finance and trade experience. The book reviews why China’s success challenges the United State...

In February 2022, the China Initiative, a program launched by the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2018, formally ended. The initiative was an effort to prosecute economic espionage and trade secret theft by the Chinese government. As the first country-specific initiative in DOJ history, it was criticized for targeting academics and researchers of Chinese descent and for...

Less than a century ago, China faced myriad challenges in catching up to a world that had passed it by technologically. In her new book, Kingdom of Charactes, Jing Tsu breaks down how the monumental and transformative task of bringing the Chinese language into the modern era also modernized China itself. Jing Tsu joined the National Committee on June 1, 2022 to discuss the visionaries, reformers,...

China is under scrutiny as it attempts to quash its largest COVID-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. The latest wave of infections is the most serious in the country since the disease first emerged in Wuhan two years ago and is putting the government under immense pressure as it sticks with its ‘dynamic zero-COVID strategy’. Shanghai has been in lockdown for over a month, causing se...

The National Committee held its annual members program on May 24, 2022 featuring four National Committee directors, Paul Haenle, Ben Harburg, Elizabeth Knup, and Nancy Yao, who considered the past, present, and future of the bilateral relationship from the perspectives of business, think tanks, foundations, and cultural institutions. About the speaker: https://www.ncuscr.org/podcast/how-powerful-i...