The end of U.S. engagement with China?
Past Event
Introduction & Keynote
Content from the Brookings-Tsinghua Public Policy Center is now archived. Since October 1, 2020, Brookings has maintained a limited partnership with Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management that is intended to facilitate jointly organized dialogues, meetings, and/or events.
When the Trump administration released its first National Security Strategy in December, the report drew attention for labeling China a “strategic competitor” and questioning the value of engagement over the past eight administrations. The document illustrated a growing sense of disenchantment in the United States about the bilateral relationship, reflected most vividly in public scrutiny of China’s use of “sharp power” to influence public discourse in the United States. Even as bilateral frictions mount, both sides recognize that U.S.-China relations remain too important to casually descend into enmity or, worse, confrontation. But any solution will require a clear diagnosis of the problem, including a review of the trajectory that gave rise to present circumstances.
On March 7, the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings hosted a three-part event to assess the prospects for U.S.-China relations. The event began with a keynote address by Rep. Rick Larsen, co-chairman of the congressional U.S.-China Working Group. A panel of experts then defined the nature of China’s current actions and behavior inside the United States and address important questions such as: Where is the line of acceptable/unacceptable behavior? To what extent can Chinese actions be distinguished from how other countries practice public diplomacy in the United States? How should the U.S. appropriately and effectively address the challenge without inflaming it into an ethnic issue? Discussants in a second panel drew on extensive experience to determine the circumstances under which the United States should continue its engagement policy and whether we have lost sight of the bigger picture of enduring U.S. interests in the U.S.-China relationship. After each segment, participants took audience questions.
Agenda
Introduction
Keynote and discussion
Defining current challenges
Ryan Hass
Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center
The Michael H. Armacost Chair
Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies
Nonresident Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center, Yale Law School
David Shambaugh
Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science & International Affairs; Director of the China Policy Program - Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Shanthi Kalathil
Director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies - National Endowment for Democracy
Responding to current challenges
Jamie P. Horsley
Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center - Yale Law School
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center
Elizabeth Knup
Director, China - Ford Foundation
Douglas H. Paal
Vice President for Studies - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Oriana Skylar Mastro
Assistant Professor - Georgetown University
Jeane Kirkpatrick Scholar - American Enterprise Institute
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