NCUSCR Events

In recent years China has been appealing to scholars who went overseas to study and remained abroad to return to China. Among its “reverse migration” policies is the Thousand Talents Plan, initiated in 2008 to encourage “strategic scientists or leading talents who can make breakthroughs in key technologies or can enhance China’s high-tech industries and emerging disciplines” to accept positions at leading Chinese universities (Recruitment Program of Global Experts). The U.S. government has taken exception to the program, claiming that it encourages economic espionage and intellectual property theft.

On January 27, 2020, the National Committee hosted a program to discuss China’s "reverse migration" efforts, presenting the Thousand Talents Plan as a case study. Dr. David Zweig, professor of political science emeritus at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, shared his research findings.

In this podcast, Ambassador Robert Blackwill sits down with NCUSCR President Steve Orlins to discuss his recent report, "Implementing Grand Strategy Toward China: Twenty-Two U.S. Policy Prescriptions," published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in January 2020. Ambassador Blackwill shares how his report has been received by both critics and proponents of engagement with China, and expands on his analysis of China's increasingly assertive international presence.  

On February 13, 2020, Ambassador Blackwill presented his report during a program at the National Committee. The full video can be found at www.ncuscr.video/ambblackwill.  

Ambassador Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at CFR and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  

Ambassador Blackwill was deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush; he also served as presidential envoy to Iraq. Dr. Blackwill joined the National Security Council after serving as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003.

Over the past few years, China has lost some of the key constituents that have supported constructive U.S.-China relations in recent decades, from the business sector to the academic field. As China has grown stronger economically, politically, and militarily, its increasingly muscular foreign policy has given many Americans pause.

On February 13, the National Committee held a program with Ambassador Robert Blackwill during which he discussed how the United States should respond, as per the twenty-two policy prescriptions that form his proposed "Grand Strategy Toward China." The program was based on Blackwill's report of the same name, published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in January 2020.

Robert Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at CFR and the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Ambassador Blackwill was deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush; he also served as presidential envoy to Iraq. Dr. Blackwill joined to the National Security Council (NSC) after serving as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003.

Leading Chinese and American economists convened in New York City on January 9 at the Forecast of China's Economy for 2020, hosted by the National Committee and the China Center for Economic Research.

During the Forecast’s first panel, Daniel Rosen presented a preliminary analysis of the phase-one trade deal in light of China’s ongoing negotiation between statism and industrial policy, capitalism and the free market. Daniel Rosen is a founding partner of Rhodium Group.

Leading Chinese and American economists convened in New York on January 9 at the Forecast of China's Economy for 2020, hosted by the National Committee and the China Center for Economic Research.

During the Forecast’s first panel, Dr. Nicholas Lardy presented an overview of his research on China’s economic slowdown. Dr. Lardy is the Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a Vice Chair on the National Committee’s board of directors.

What do patterns of political contention look like? Over the course of the twentieth century, protests and social movements in Shanghai and Bombay changed with the commodification of urban land. In his new book, The Power of Place: Contentious Politics in Twentieth-Century Shanghai and Bombay, Mark Frazier examines changes in political geographies and patterns of popular protest in the two cities, analyzing debates over ideology, citizenship, and political representation, and comparing clashes over housing, jobs, policing, and public space.

On October 3, 2019, Dr. Mark Frazier presented his analysis, updating his findings with comparison to the recent protests in Hong Kong.

In his recent book, China’s New Red Guards: The Return of Radicalism and the Rebirth of Mao Zedong, Jude D. Blanchette argues that China’s growing authoritarianism draws directly from the Mao era.

Under President Xi Jinping, state control over the economy is increasing, civil society is shrinking, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is expanding its reach in new ways. As Mr. Blanchette describes, nationalist intellectuals and activists have fed a populism that rejects Western notions of political pluralism, the rule of law, and a market economy. They draw on Mao’s writings and policies in support of a powerful CCP overseeing every aspect of Chinese society and politics.

On September 18, 2019, the National Committee hosted a conversation with Jude Blanchette about his new book and Mao’s influence on contemporary Chinese politics and society. Watch event video.

Jude D. Blanchette is the Freeman Chair of China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is also a senior advisor at Crumpton Group, a geo-political risk advisory in Arlington, VA. He serves as an adjunct fellow of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, and is a National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Public Intellectuals Program fellow. Read full bio. 

Entrepreneurs, students, local politicians, and others in California and China are forging connections across a wide array of fields. Who are these people? What do their activities mean for the bilateral relationship and the world in the 21st century? Journalist Matt Sheehan tells the stories of some of the individuals tying our two countries together in his new book, The Transpacific Experiment: How China and California Collaborate and Compete for Our Future. Mr. Sheehan selects a few people in the real estate, film, AI, and electric vehicle industries to illustrate the relationship’s complexity.

On September 10, 2019, Matt Sheehan discussed his new book, and offered his analysis of how individuals on both sides of the Pacific compete as well as cooperate.

Matt Sheehan is a fellow at the Paulson Institute’s think tank, MacroPolo, where he leads the team’s work on U.S.-China technology issues, specializing in artificial intelligence. Based in Oakland, he was formerly the China correspondent for The WorldPost. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Sheehan lived and worked in Xi’an and Beijing. He then moved back to the Bay Area to work as an analyst, consultant, and writer on topics connecting China and California. In 2018, he was selected as a finalist for the Young China Watcher of the Year award.

His work has been published in The Atlantic, Vice News, Foreign Policy, The WorldPost, The Huffington Post, MIT Technology Review, and elsewhere. He has been quoted or cited in numerous media outlets, including Reuters, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Diplomat, Dagens Nyheter, and The South China Morning Post, among others.

Professor Ezra F. Vogel begins his new book on China and Japan in the sixth century when the Japanese adopted basic elements of Chinese civilization. Throughout the ensuing centuries, China generally took the leading role. Tables turned by the end of the 19th century, when Japan’s modernization efforts surpassed those of China, leading to Japanese victory in the 1895 Sino-Japanese war. Despite recent efforts to promote trade and even tourism, the bitter legacy of World War II has made cooperation difficult.

In China and Japan: Facing History, Dr. Vogel argues that the two nations must forge a new relationship as the world confronts transnational issues including climate change, disaster relief, global economic development, and scientific research. Without acknowledging and ultimately transcending the frictions of the past and present, tense relations between China and Japan jeopardize global stability.

On September 4, 2019, Dr. Ezra Vogel presented his findings on how the history of Sino-Japanese relations informs the present, and on the need for a reset for the future.

Professor Ezra F. Vogel is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard University. He has had a long association with Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in sociology there in 1958, and then teaching at the university from 1967 to 2000.

In 1973, Dr. Vogel succeeded John Fairbank to become the second director of Harvard’s East Asian Research Center. He also served as director of the U.S.-Japan Program, director of the Fairbank Center, and founding director of the Asia Center. He was also director of the undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies from its inception in 1972 until 1991. He taught courses on Chinese society, Japanese society, and industrial East Asia.

From 1993 to 1995, Dr. Vogel took a two-year leave of absence from Harvard to serve as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the national intelligence council in Washington. In 1996 he chaired the American Assembly on China and edited the resulting volume, Living With China. The following year, Dr. Vogel began serving on the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. He rotated off in 2002 after serving two terms.

His book Japan As Number One (1979), in Japanese translation, became a bestseller in Japan, and his book Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China (2011), in Chinese translation, became a bestseller in China. Among his other works are Japan's New Middle Class (1963), Canton Under Communism (1969), Comeback (1988), One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong Under Reform (1989), and The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (1991).

Professor Vogel has spent a total of more than five years in Asia conducting research. He lectures frequently in Asia, in both Chinese and Japanese as well as English. He directs a weekly speaker series for the Fairbank Center on “Critical Issues Confronting China.” He has received numerous honors, including eleven honorary degrees.

In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon’s national security advisor, Dr. Henry Kissinger, steered U.S. foreign policy through challenging times, reshaping the country’s policies on China, Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and the Middle East. Working by his side throughout was Ambassador Winston Lord, then special assistant to the national security advisor and director of the State Department’s policy planning staff. In a new collection of interviews, Kissinger on Kissinger: Reflections on Diplomacy, Grand Strategy, and Leadership, Ambassador Lord chronicles Dr. Kissinger’s diplomatic adventures. Understanding Dr. Kissinger’s thoughts on leadership and strategy provides a timely lens through which to view today’s challenging geopolitical landscape.

Winston Lord has had a long and varied career in and out of government, serving as special assistant to the national security advisor (1970-73) and director of the State Department policy planning staff under President Nixon (1973-77), ambassador to China for Presidents Reagan and the first President Bush (1985-89), and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under President Clinton (1993-97). Earlier in his career he held many positions in the State Department as a foreign service officer, and served on the policy planning staff of the Defense Department.
Between government postings Ambassador Lord was a board member of many non-partisan, non-government organizations related to global issues. These include his service as president of the Council on Foreign Relations, co-chair of the International Rescue Committee, chair of the National Endowment for Democracy, and chair of the Carnegie Endowment National Commission on America and the New World. He is a member and former director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Ambassador Lord earned a B.A. from Yale (magna cum laude) and an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (first in his class). He has received several honorary degrees, the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award, and the Defense Department’s Outstanding Performance Award. Ambassador Lord has appeared on all major U.S. media networks, and his writings include articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, and Foreign Affairs.