NCUSCR Events

A year has passed since China installed a new president, Xi Jinping; he has moved forcefully in several areas but many challenges remain. How will the country move forward as its double-digit rate of economic growth slows? How does it plan to deal with international calls for political reform and cope with an aging and increasingly polarized population? How do China's leaders see the nation's future, including its strategic role in the region and beyond?

In Following the Leader: Ruling China, from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping, David M. Lampton looks back at China's political elite since "reform and opening" began with Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970's. In the book, based on hundreds of interviews, Dr. Lampton explores how China's leaders explain how they intend to move forward, shares their reflections on issues of leadership and policy, and considers the challenges before them.

Dr. David M.  Lampton is George and Sadie Hyman Professor and Director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and chairman of The Asia Foundation. He was president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations in from 1988 to 1997. From May 1998 to May 2006 he also was affiliated with The Nixon Center (now the Center for the National Interest) as the founding director of its Chinese Studies Program. Prior to 1988, Dr. Lampton was founding director of the China Policy Program at the American Enterprise Institute. 

Economist Stephen Roach discusses his new book “Unbalanced” and U.S.-China economic codependency with President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Stephen Orlins on February 13, 2014 in New York.  Dr. Roach highlights the conflicts at the center of current economic tensions and the potential for greater cooperation.  Dr. Roach is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and School of Management and was formerly chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

Former World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Justin Yifu Lin, Professor and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development, Peking University, discusses China’s economic structure and growth and outlines the expected dramatic reforms following the Third Plenum.  Dr. Lin discusses structural reforms, sectors of expected growth and forces affecting China’s reform agenda as it enters 2014. Delivered at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations’ Forecast for China’s Economy, January 6, 2014 at the New York Stock Exchange. Moderated by Yao Yang, Dean, National School of Development, Peking University. 

On the third and last stop  of her U.S. visit, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong was honored at a cultural symposium and luncheon at Carnegie Hall on November 22, co-hosted by the National Committee and the Chinese Consulate General in New York.  The symposium, on Sino-American cultural exchange and cooperation, featured the signing of five cultural cooperation agreements and was attended by a diverse group of American leaders in the fields of the arts and education.

The Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress took place from November 9 to 12, 2013,  in Beijing.  At the end of the conference, China unveiled its official reform blueprint for the coming years, including plans to give market competition a decisive role in the economy and to establish a new committee to oversee national security.  Hours after the close of the Plenum on November 12, the National Committee hosted an on-the-record teleconference with Professor Barry Naughton.  Moderated by NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins, Dr. Naughton reflected on the results of the Plenum and its implications for future reforms.  

One of the world's top experts on the Chinese economy, and a long-term analyst of Chinese economic policy, Barry Naughton is a professor at the University of California, San Diego.  He is in Beijing this fall as a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, which has allowed him to follow preparations for the Third Plenum closely.

Last month, MIT Press published Dr. Naughton's edited volume of essays by Wu Jinglian, China's foremost reform economist, called Wu Jinglian: Voice of Reform in China. 

In “The China Fallacy: How the U.S. Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid Another Cold War,” Donald Gross challenges attempts to contain China and warns against protectionism. Instead, he calls for achieving a stable peace with China and negotiating free trade agreements that will bring greater American prosperity consistent with principles for good Sino-American relations advanced by presidents from Nixon onward. Mr. Gross discusses why and how the United States can improve relations with China at a National Committee program on September 18, 2013 in New York City.

Donald Gross is a specialist in U.S. security and economic policy toward East Asia with many years of experience in government, public affairs, diplomacy and international business. He is now a senior associate at Pacific Forum CSIS, a non-profit foreign policy research institute affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is the leading nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages understanding of China and the United States among citizens of both countries.

China is undergoing the largest migration in human history: Since the mid-1980s, roughly 300 million people have moved from China's countryside into its cities; between now and 2025, its expected that another 300 million Chinese will make their ways in. Without appropriate urban planning, design, and construction focused on sustainable development, the consequences of this massive urbanization could be dire for China and the world.

When President Richard M. Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing in February 1972, at his side was a young U.S. diplomat serving as his principal interpreter: Chas W. Freeman, Jr. had started studying Mandarin (and Taiwan’s dialect, Minnan) in Taiwan three years earlier; and he spent much of his long diplomatic career specializing in China, including Taiwan. InInteresting Times, Ambassador Freeman brings a broad and well-informed historical perspective to his analysis of the issues that have confronted the world’s two most powerful countries over the last four decades. 

Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III in conversation with National Committee President Stephen Orlins. The Admiral addressed U.S.- China relations in the context of the harsh rhetoric from North Korea, the tense situation in the East and South China Seas, and the recent improvement in military-to-military relations between China and the United States.

In The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction James Millward explores the historical background against which the silk road flourished, discusses the significance of old-world intercultural exchange, and puts the silk road into the context of world history. Professor Millward discussed the historical significance and contemporary uses of the silk road.