What does China want its future to be? How does it see its own rise as a global power? We discuss what we need to understand about the story China tells about itself. 

Guests

Tong Zhao, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment’s Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. Author of Narrowing the U.S.-China Gap on Missile Defense: How to Help Forestall a Nuclear Arms Race. (@zhaot2005)

Dr. Yangyang Cheng, postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. Her research focuses on the ethics and governance of science in China and their global implications. Frequent columnist on Chinese politics and U.S.-China relations. (@yangyang_cheng)

Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Senior Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Author of The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. (@LizEconomy)

Reading List

Vox: “Don’t expect the US and China to be friendly anytime soon” —”The two sides’ views of how the world should run are diametrically opposed — and competition more than cooperation will guide how Washington and Beijing interact for a long time.”

Foreign Affairs: “How to Craft a Durable China Strategy” — “Now, the United States must forge a relationship with China defined by an uncomfortable and undeniable paradox: deep and complex interdependence on the one hand and rapidly diverging interests—regarding security, economics, technology, ideology, and more—on the other. Policymakers are questioning many of the fundamental ideas that once guided American policy, including the convergence of economic and political goals, the value of engagement, and the idea that cooperation can ameliorate competition and produce stability.”

SupChina: “The Grieving and the Grievable” — “In the early days of the outbreak, the Chinese government had downplayed its severity and concealed information. People in China, in particular the residents of Wuhan, bore the brunt of the cost. The initial delay in alerting the public would soon be inconsequential to the pandemic’s trajectory in the U.S., due to the latter’s own mismanagement, but on that early February evening, I felt personally responsible. I had not lived in China for over a decade, but as a Chinese citizen born and bred, was I not complicit in its government’s actions?”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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