China’s Nuclear Energy Push

featuring
Alexander C. Kaufman
Senior Energy Reporter, HuffPost

Speaker’s summary:
In recent years, China has been pursuing something altogether new — becoming the world’s first electro state. This has been done with all kinds of generating sources, but one area of growth stands out: nuclear power. Over the past decade, China has emerged as the No. 1 builder of atomic energy stations. The country is now seen as a decade or more ahead of the West on new types of reactor designs, and looks likely to begin exporting its technology in the coming years. This talk will go over how China’s nuclear energy push began and what the future holds.  

Speaker’s Bio:
Alexander C. Kaufman is an award-winning journalist and writer who has covered energy and climate change on four continents. He is currently the senior energy reporter at the news website HuffPost, and was the inaugural recipient of the East-West Center’s Melvin M.S. Goo Writing Fellowship. A fourth-generation New Yorker, he lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with his wife. You can follow his work on X or Bluesky at the username @AlexCKaufman or subscribe to his newsletter at kaufman.substack.com.

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The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect East-West Center policies or positions. Affairs

The China Seminar was founded by Dr. Daniel W.Y. Kwok in 1977. Under his guidance, it became a signature program of the Friends of the East-West Center (FEWC) in 2009. The program provides an informal venue for China experts, such as scholars, diplomats, and journalists, to present talks on aspects of China that interest the community and members of the Friends. Topics include politics, economics, social issues, history, culture, food, arts, and many other subjects.

Wild Ride: A Short History
of the Opening and Closing
of the Chineses Economy

featuring
Anne Stevenson-Yang
Co-Founder, J Capital Research

Speaker’s summary:
How did China grow from an impoverished country to become the second largest economy in the world in just over four decades? And how did this economic miracle come to an end, as seems the case today? To understand the story of China’s rapid rise and equally rapid fall, Anne Stevenson-Yang takes us back to the beginning, when Deng Xiaoping took over and opened China’s moribund economy to Western money and know-how. Stevenson-Yang, who lived and worked in China for a quarter of a century, traces each decade of China’s tumultuous development, from the roaring 1980s to today’s malaise. What happened to the promise of the political change that would come with the opening of the economy? And the institutional reforms of the last four decades? The author says the hope of such change was an illusion all along, and with the rise of Xi Jinping that capitalist experiment has ended. 

Speaker’s Bio:
Anne Stevenson-Yang co-founded J Capital Research, which publishes highly diligenced research reports on publicly traded companies. Over 25 years living in Beijing, Anne worked as an industry analyst and founded three businesses in online and print media and software. She is author of three published books, including Wild Ride: A Short History of the Opening and Closing of the Chinese Economy.

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The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect East-West Center policies or positions. Affairs

The China Seminar was founded by Dr. Daniel W.Y. Kwok in 1977. Under his guidance, it became a signature program of the Friends of the East-West Center (FEWC) in 2009. The program provides an informal venue for China experts, such as scholars, diplomats, and journalists, to present talks on aspects of China that interest the community and members of the Friends. Topics include politics, economics, social issues, history, culture, food, arts, and many other subjects. Though Dr. Kwok has recently retired from his involvement with the program, the FEWC and the East-West Center remain committed to continuing this important program.

Bolstering China’s Economy:
Too Little, Too Late?

featuring
Richard Hornik
Senior Adjunct Fellow
East-West Center

Speaker’s summary:
After months of dithering, reportedly due to Xi Jinping’s opposition, Beijing finally began in September to address the PRC’s economic stagnation with measures designed to increase the amount of credit available in the economy. Shortly after Donald Trump’s electoral victory — amid fears of increased tariffs — it followed up with a $1.4 trillion rescue package designed to alleviate a growing crisis in local government finances tied to the ongoing collapse in real estate values. Amid global pressure to rein in China’s overheated export drive, even Chinese economists admit that far more will need to be done to turn the economy around. Will Xi Jingping concede that the economy’s belt needs to be loosened a few more notches?

Richard Hornik is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the East-West Center.  During his 40-year career in journalism he served as Executive Editor of AsiaWeek, News Service Director of TIME magazine, and TIME’s Bureau Chief in Warsaw, Boston, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He co-authored Massacre in Beijing: China’s Struggle for Democracy, and has written on China for Foreign Affairs, Fortune, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. He also served as Interim Editor of the Harvard Business Review. Mr. Hornik was a Lecturer at Stony Brook University from 2007-19, where he helped develop and propagate its innovative News Literacy curriculum now used in over 40 universities worldwide. He was a Visiting Lecturer at Hong Kong University in 2012 and at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2015, where he was also the inaugural Daniel K. Inouye Visiting Scholar. 

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The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect East-West Center policies or positions. Affairs

The China Seminar was founded by Dr. Daniel W.Y. Kwok in 1977. Under his guidance, it became a signature program of the Friends of the East-West Center (FEWC) in 2009. The program provides an informal venue for China experts, such as scholars, diplomats, and journalists, to present talks on aspects of China that interest the community and members of the Friends. Topics include politics, economics, social issues, history, culture, food, arts, and many other subjects. Though Dr. Kwok has recently retired from his involvement with the program, the FEWC and the East-West Center remain committed to continuing this important program.