The US-China Podcast

In this podcast, Dr. Elanah Uretsky discusses her recent book, Occupational Hazards:  Sex, Business, and HIV in Post-Mao China, with National Committee Program Officer Maura Cunningham. The book follows a group of Chinese businessmen and government officials as they conduct business in Beijing and western Yunnan Province, uncovering informal networks that result in political favors for the businessmen. The networks are built on liquor, cigarettes, food, and sex; risky behaviors turn into occupational hazards.

Occupational Hazards follows men both powerful and vulnerable - to China's growing epidemics of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. Examining the relationships between elite masculine networking practices and vulnerability to HIV infection, the book includes the stories of numerous government officials and businessmen who visit commercial sex workers but avoid HIV testing for fear of threatening their economic and political status. Their lives are complicated by a political system that does not publicly acknowledge the risks and by international approaches to disease control that limit the reach of public health interventions. Dr. Uretsky offers insights into how complex socio-cultural and politico-economic negotiations affect the development of and approaches to China's HIV epidemic.

Dr. Uretsky discussed her research with the National Committee on March 15, 2016 in New York City. She is a medical anthropologist in the departments of global health, anthropology, and the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Human Rights Press Award, author Mei Fong discusses China’s one child policy, women’s issues and child adoptions in a candid discussion of her recent book, One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment, with National Committee Senior Director for Education Programs Margot Landman.

Despite its implementation at a time of global concern about over-population, China’s one-child policy developed into one of the most controversial social policies of the twentieth century. Between 1970 and 1976, the Chinese government successfully led the “Long, Late, and Few” campaign which aimed to curtail population growth at a time of limited resources. However, by the end of the decade, after a brief decline China’s population growth rate began to rise again, prompting the leaders to reexamine their efforts. In response, in 1980 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced the implementation of the so-called one-child policy, in which Han couples would be limited to one child. There were exceptions, particularly for rural families.

The contentious population control policy lasted for more than three decades; in late 2015 the Chinese government announced that families would be allowed to have two children. The one-child policy has had tremendous demographic repercussions far beyond a significantly reduced birth rate. Acclaimed author and journalist Mei Fong has spent years documenting and analyzing the impact of the policy. In her book,One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment, Ms. Fong writes about the origins of the policy and some of its unintended consequences including the creation of “little emperors” (spoiled children), a huge gender imbalance, and a rapidly aging population. Mei Fong discussed her book with the National Committee on March 8, 2016 in New York City.  

Given its experience of colonialism, Africans have long been suspicious of Chinese intentions on the continent. Recent allegations of unprecedented Chinese state-sponsored acquisitions of African farmland have alarmed many who now fear that Africa, with its large tracts of untouched arable land, will enter a new colonial era.

In her book, Will Africa Feed China?, leading expert and National Committee director Deborah Bräutigam analyzes the nature of Chinese agricultural investment in Africa. After conducting research in several African countries, Dr. Bräutigam discovered that despite claims of a calculated Chinese plan to control rural Africa for its own purposes, Chinese agricultural investment in Africa has been remarkably limited; in fact, China exports more agricultural goods to Africa than it imports. 

The concern is not limited to agriculture; Chinese investment throughout Africa has generally been viewed through a neocolonial lens. The widespread suspicion calls into question the foundation of Sino-African relations. Dr. Bräutigam discussed her book, and Chinese policy in Africa at the first installment of our 50th Anniversary special series, China and the World, on February 25, 2016 in New York City. This interview was conducted by National Committee President Stephen Orlins. 

Dr. Deborah Bräutigam is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Political Economy, director of the International Development Program, and director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her most recent books include The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Will Africa Feed China? (OUP, 2015). Before joining SAIS in 2012, she taught at Columbia University and American University.

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.

Born to American missionaries in northern India, John Birch went to China in 1940 as an Independent Baptist missionary. Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Birch volunteered for the U.S. Army to fight the Japanese in China and was recruited by Claire Chennault, leader of the Flying Tigers and the U.S. 14th Air Force, as a field intelligence officer.

John Birch is better known today for what happened after he was shot and killed by Chinese Communist forces in the days immediately following Japan’s surrender. In the acrimonious debate over the "loss" of China, U.S. Senator William Knowland claimed that Birch was a martyr whose murder revealed the true intentions of the Communists. Thirteen years after Birch's death, a retired businessman from Boston named Robert Welch chose him as the figurehead of an anti-communist advocacy group, the John Birch Society.

In John Birch: A Life (Oxford, 2016), Terry Lautz, a longtime scholar of U.S.-China relations and director of the National Committee, unravels the mythology surrounding John Birch after conducting extensive archival research, interviewing Birch’s brothers, analyzing letters he wrote, and traveling to the places in China where he lived and died. In addition, Dr. Lautz explores the perception that John Birch is the personification of the longstanding American ambition to save and defend China. Terry Lautz discussed his book with the National Committee on February 11 in New York City.

Bio:

Dr. Terry Lautz is a Moynihan Research Fellow and interim director of the East Asia Program at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He is former vice president of the Henry Luce Foundation, a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, chair of the board of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

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.

Confucianism, with its emphasis on virtue and social harmony, served as the foundation of Chinese civilization for over two thousand years. The teachings of the famous Chinese sage had an impact on every aspect of Chinese life and social structure and ultimately spread and flourished throughout East Asia. Confucianism’s prominence in Chinese culture was shattered during the twentieth century as reformers and revolutionaries labeled the ancient sage an outdated relic preventing China from becoming a strong, modern State.

China’s great philosopher is experiencing a revival in China today. President Xi Jinping routinely promotes some of Confucius’s ideas in an attempt to resurrect traditional culture as a bulwark against unwanted foreign influence. Ordinary Chinese are revisiting Confucius’s teachings and enrolling their children into Confucian schools.

In his new book, Confucius and the World He Created, Michael Schuman notes that the unprecedented resurgence of Confucianism may be one of the most significant trends in Chinese politics and culture. Will Confucius’s doctrine become a tool to solidify authoritarianism in China, as it was during the country’s imperial era? How do the 21st century versions of Confucianism compare to earlier understanding of his ideas? Is Confucian humanist thought just what a rapidly changing Chinese society needs? Michael Schuman addressed these questions and discussed his book with the National Committee on February 2, 2016, in New York City.

Michael Schuman is a Beijing-based journalist with over 20 years of experience writing about Asia and the global economy. He has served as a correspondent for theWall Street Journal and TIME magazine. He is also the author of The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia’s Quest for Wealth (2009).

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.

Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei research firm and co-host of the Sinica podcast discusses developments in China’s internet and social media culture, the founding of Danwei and  his long-time interest in China in an interview with National Committee Program Officer Maura Cunningham on December 14, 2015 in New York City.

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.

Simon Winchester discusses his new book, In PACIFIC: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World’s Superpowers.

 Politicians and scholars alike have dubbed the twenty-first century “The Pacific Century” to reflect the profound shift in global power toward the Asia-Pacific.  Even though it is the largest body of water on the planet, through which the majority of global trade passes, the history of the Pacific Ocean remains largely unknown to Westerners.  In PACIFIC: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World’s Superpowers, Simon Winchester offers a detailed history of the Pacific from the atomic age to today.  In addition, Mr. Winchester explores how expanded resource exploitation, continued environmental degradation, and the rise of China will affect the Pacific region.  Simon Winchester discussed his book at a National Committee event on November 23 in New York City. 

Simon Winchester, author, journalist, and broadcaster, has worked as a foreign correspondent for most of his career, although he graduated from Oxford in 1966 with a degree in geology and spent a year working as a geologist in the Ruwenzori Mountains in western Uganda, and on oil rigs in the North Sea, before taking his first newspaper job in 1967.

 His journalistic work, mainly for The Guardian and The Sunday Times, has based him in Belfast, Washington, D.C., New Delhi, and New York, London, and Hong Kong, where he covered such stories as the Ulster crisis, the creation of Bangladesh, the fall of President Marcos, the Watergate affair, the Jonestown Massacre, and the assassination of Egypt’s President Sadat. He has been a freelance writer since 1987.

 He now principally concentrates on writing books, although he contributes to a number of American and British magazines, newspapers, and journals, including Harper’s, The Smithsonian, The National Geographic Magazine, The Spectator, Granta, The New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly.  He was appointed Asia-Pacific editor of Conde Nast Traveler at its inception in 1987, later becoming editor-at-large.  His writings have won him several awards, including Britain’s Journalist of the Year.

 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’s growing economic and political influence has raised concerns among some in the United States that China’s regained status as a major power represents a strategic threat to U.S. leadership in Asia and beyond. In The China Challenge:  Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power, Thomas Christensen seeks to counter this zero-sum narrative by offering a new paradigm in which the real challenge for the United States lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while encouraging the country to contribute to the international order. Thomas Christensen discussed his book at a National Committee event on November 10 in New York City.

 Thomas J. Christensen is William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War and Director of the China and the World Program at Princeton University. At Princeton he is also faculty director of the Masters of Public Policy Program and the Truman Scholars Program.   From 2006-2008 he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs with responsibility for relations with China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security.  His most recent book, The China Challenge:  Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton, 2015), was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review and selected as “Book of the Week” on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.  Before arriving at Princeton in 2003, Professor Christensen taught at Cornell University and MIT.

 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.

Despite worrying signs of intensifying rivalry between Washington and Beijing, few observers have offered paths away from disaster. In Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry, author Lyle J. Goldstein focuses on American and Chinese perceptions of where their interests clash and proposes ways to ease bilateral tensions through compromise.

In a conversation with NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins, Dr. Goldstein outlines key strategic concerns between the United States and China and recommendations to promote cooperative relations in areas of friction. Dr. Goldstein discussed his book at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in New York on June 25, 2015: https://www.ncuscr.org/content/meeting-china-halfway-how-defuse-emerging-us-china-rivalry

Lyle J. Goldstein is an associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI), which was established at U.S. Naval War College in October 2006 to improve mutual understanding and maritime cooperation with China.  He served as the founding director of CMSI from 2006 to 2011.  For this service, he was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Medal in 2012. 

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.

Zhu Feng, director of China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, discusses maritime issues involving China, including China’s island construction in the South China Sea, Chinese engagement in international boundary dispute mechanisms, and the effect of China’s relative size as a factor in maritime discussions.  

Zhu Feng, who is also a senior researcher at the China Center for Peace and Development and a professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, was interviewed in New York City by National Committee Senior Program Officer Haini Guo on April 18, 2015; he was in New York to participate in the National Committee’s U.S.-China Track II Dialogue on Maritime Affairs & International Law.

Professor Zhu writes extensively on regional security in East Asia, the nuclear issue in North Korea and China-US military and diplomatic relations. Professor Zhu’s most recent book is: China-US Relations and the World Order (co-edited with Prof. G. John Ikenbery and Prof. Wang Jisi, MacMillan, 2014).

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.