UW Committee on China-U.S. Dialogues: Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry

US-China rivalry continues to intensify dangerously across all domains. Already before 2016, strategic rivalry was amply evident in the South China Sea and East China Sea.  However, the Trump Administration has further inflamed the delicate relationship between the superpowers, seemingly springing the so-called "Thucydides Trap."  A trade war is well under way and this includes a high-stakes contest over high-tech frontiers, such as 5G networks and artificial intelligence.  US opposition to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) threatens to unleash geopolitical rivalry from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean to Africa and beyond.  The Taiwan situation might now be on the cusp of spinning out of control as both sides contemplate escalation.  Washington and Beijing are both rapidly upgrading nuclear forces with an eye to developing a new generation of hypersonic strike weapons. A thoroughly dysfunctional Sino-US relationship, moreover, has also meant that there is little to no actual progress on the most pressing issue in the bilateral relationship, namely the future of the Korean Peninsula.  Finally, the vital issue of climate change languishes at precisely the time when US-China cooperation is most needed.  This talk will address all the above issues, presenting unique Chinese source materials and perspectives.  A variety of possible policy solutions to the above dilemmas will be presented.  

Professor David Bachman, Professor Donald Hellmann, and Professor Tabitha Mallory from Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies will serve as discussants.

The lecture will be held on Monday, April 8th, at William H. Gates Hall, room 138. A ticket is required for this event, please see the poster below for more information and click here for reservation on Eventbrite. You can also get updated information from our Facebook page.