NCUSCR Events

A deteriorating bilateral relationship and growing regulatory scrutiny have changed the trajectory of capital flows between the United States and China over the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to further disrupt two-way investment, as weak Chinese consumption and supply chain risks make U.S. companies re-think their China footprint, and Chinese investors face continued headwinds from domestic restrictions on outbound capital flows and U.S. regulators wary of opportunistic foreign buyers.

The National Committee held a virtual event with report authors Thilo Hanemann and Daniel Rosen, both of Rhodium Group; Ker Gibbs, president, AmCham Shanghai; Rebecca Fannin, founder/editor, Silicon Dragon Ventures; and National Committee President Stephen Orlins to launch our new Two-Way Street: 2020 Update report and discuss the latest two-way investment data and analysis on May 11, 2020.

As the impact of technology gains increasing strategic importance in the U.S.-China relationship, the National Committee hosted the second session of Navigating China's Technological Rise, a series of virtual programs on the critical issues and policies affecting the technology industry and its impact on Sino-American ties.

The second program of the series, Critical Technology Regulation and its Industry Impact, which took place on May 8, 2020, featuring discussion and Q&A with NCUSCR Director Anja Manuel, co-founder and principal of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, and Paul Triolo, head of the geo-technology practice at Eurasia Group.

Ms. Manuel and Mr. Triolo discussed the policies that contributed to China's technological rise, the geopolitical implications of this rise, how U.S. firms should approach this new order, and how recent developments, such as the Phase I trade agreement and COVID-19 pandemic, have affected technological collaboration.

As the COVID-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to every level of the global economy, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is bringing together leading American and Chinese experts on economics and trade to share analysis and projections on the issues. We invite you to join us for a series of virtual programs, Coronavirus Crisis: What it means for U.S.-China Economic & Trade Relations, over the next month.

The first program in the series, Coronavirus Crisis: The Short and Long-Term Economic Impact in China and the United States, was held on April 29, 2020, and featured: Gao Shanwen, Chief Economist, Essence Securities Co., Ltd.; Huang Yiping, Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean, National School of Development, Peking University; Catherine Mann, Global Chief Economist, Citi; Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody's Analytics.

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 coronavirus's impact on U.S.-China relations, visit www.ncuscr.org/coronavirus.

As the impact of technology gains increasing strategic importance in the U.S.-China relationship, we launched Navigating China's Technological Rise, a series of virtual programs featuring conversations with leading experts on the critical issues and policies affecting the technology industry and its impact on Sino-American ties.

Former National Intelligence Director and Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command Admiral Dennis Blair was the featured speaker for the first event in the series, "Charting a Course from Competition to Collaboration," on April 23, 2020. Admiral Blair, also a National Committee director, discussed the rise of China's technological capabilities, the related strategic challenges, and how a U.S. approach can best balance regulation and collaboration. The discussion and Q&A was moderated by NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins.

In its fight against the coronavirus, should the United States consider China an enemy or a partner? "Viruses carry no passports, have no ideology, and respect no borders," write Dr. Graham Allison and Mr. Christopher Li of Harvard University in a March essay in The National Interest, but our response to the pandemic will affect domestic and global economic growth, confidence in governments, and national standing around the world. Despite great differences between the United States and China, there are potential areas of collaboration in the battle against the coronavirus including in data collection and sharing, diagnostics and public health measures, and biomedical research.

On April 22, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program with Graham Allison where he discussed prospects for cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus.

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's leaders have devised nine different military strategies, also known as 'strategic guidelines.' In "Active Defense: China's Military Strategy since 1949," M. Taylor Fravel explores the range and intensity of threats faced by the country, illuminating China's past and present military goals and how it has sought to achieve them.

Dr. Fravel shows why transformations in military strategy were pursued at some times and not others. He focuses on the military strategies adopted in 1956, 1980, and 1993—all moments during which the PLA was attempting to wage war in a new way—to show that China has pursued major change in its strategic guidelines when there has been a significant shift in the conduct of warfare in the international system and when China's Communist Party has been united.

On October 10, 2019, Dr. Taylor Fravel presented his findings and discussed the implications for China's current military behavior.

As the novel coronavirus and resulting illness, COVID-19, spread across China and now the United States and much of the world, national governments have had to scramble to address this unprecedented health threat. At the same time, the pandemic has caused an enormous strain in U.S.-China relations at a time when the two countries are contending with an on-going trade war and other sources of friction.

On April 14, 2020, the National Committee hosted a virtual program with three experts: Yuen Yuen Ang of the University of Michigan, Amy Celico of the Albright Stonebridge Group, and Elizabeth Knup of the Ford Foundation. Committee president Steve Orlins moderated the conversation as they considered how the rampant spread of the virus is affecting the U.S.-China relationship, and what the long-term impact may be in the political, economic, and social realms.

According to an assessment prepared for Congress as mandated by the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the United States and China are "locked in a strategic competition over the future of the Indo-Pacific." The authors of the report, including Ely Ratner, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, describe competing visions for the rules, norms, and institutions that will govern international relations in the future and make more than 100 policy recommendations.

The United States is free and open; by contrast, China has, in recent years, turned in an increasingly closed and illiberal direction. If China should succeed in its efforts in the Indo-Pacific, the result would be less regional security and prosperity, and the United States would be less able to exert power and influence in the world.

The National Committee hosted a virtual event on March 31, 2020, with Ely Ratner to discuss these issues. He presented recommendations to address the critical areas of U.S. policy toward China that could be more consistent, coordinated, and productive.

How have the views of Chinese people who may in the past have been attracted to the United States changed over the last 20 years? How have American perspectives on China shifted during the same period? National Public Radio (NPR) correspondent Frank Langfitt gained insights on many aspects of a changing China as he talked with passengers during taxi rides he provided for free in Shanghai. The NPR radio series that resulted inspired his first book, The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China.

On March 24, the National Committee hosted a webinar with Frank Langfitt where he discussed what he learned from his passengers in Shanghai and beyond.