China, Science, and Technology:
Advancing Geopolitical Aims

featuring
Charles Parton
Senior Associate Fellow
Royal United Services Institute, the Council on Geostrategy, and
MERICS in Berlin

Speaker’s summary:
The CCP is clear that it is engaged in a struggle with the leading developed countries to dominate science and certain technologies. This is the most important dimension of ‘systemic competition’. It aims to leverage science and technology to achieve its geopolitical aims. This talk will address the following questions:
1. Are the CCP’s scientific and technological objectives a threat? 
2. What are the dangers of allowing technology to flow to and from the PRC? 
3. How can free and open countries mitigate the threat while working with the CCP on other issues where there may be shared interests?

1. Are the CCP’s scientific and technological objectives a threat? 
2. What are the dangers of allowing technology to flow to and from the PRC? 
3. How can free and open countries mitigate the threat while working with the CCP on other issues where there may be shared interests?

Speaker’s Bio:
Charles Parton spent 22 years of his 37 year diplomatic career working in or on China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In his final posting, he was seconded to the EU Delegation in Beijing, where, as First Counsellor until late 2016, he focussed on Chinese politics and internal developments, and advised the EU and Member States on how China’s politics might affect their interests. In 2017 he returned to Beijing for four months as Adviser to the British Embassy to cover the CCP’s 19th Congress.

He is a senior associate fellow of three think tanks, the Royal United Services Institute, the Council on Geostrategy, and MERICS in Berlin. He was a Specialist Adviser on China to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee for its 2018-19 China Inquiries.

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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.

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.