U.S.-China Relations And Global Uncertainty

At USC on November 19, 2019, Ambassadors Zhang Ping and Jeffrey Bader discussed the state of U.S.-China ties. Topics covered included how the U.S. and China managed to move forward from the 1970s, past the trauma of June 4, 1989 and into the 21st century. Both emphasized the key role of Deng Xiaoping and pragmatic policies. Ambassador Zhang blamed the downturn in U.S.-China relations on forces within the U.S. that are fundamentally opposed to China’s rise and are using tensions in the U.S.-China economic relationship to push an anti-China agenda. Ambassador Bader argued that China has changed and that has produced new dynamics in U.S.-China relations. He noted that China’s far richer and more powerful militarily than it was and that its actions in the South China Sea indicate a new assertiveness. Bader also said that China under Xi Jinping has become more ideological and harder line in its domestic policies. The two ambassadors offered significantly different assessments of Chinese aims and policies in Xinjiang and toward Hong Kong. It was a lively discussion in front of a large and diverse audience.

Ambassador Jeffrey A. Bader is a senior fellow and founding director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. He served in the U.S. government for three decades. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia in the 1990s and as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative in 2001, Dr. Bader led the U.S. side in the final negotiations leading to China and Taiwan joining the World Trade Organization. Dr. Bader served on the National Security Council and was President Obama’s principal advisor on Asia from 2009 to 2011. He wrote about that experience in Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy.

Prior to serving as the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Los Angeles, Zhang Ping held ambassadorial rank as China’s top representative in Fiji from 2015 to 2017. He has held a variety of top positions in the North American and Oceanian Affairs Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Consul General Zhang served in the embassy in Hanoi and as counselor at the embassy in Canberra. From 1988 to 1992, he served as deputy consul general and consul general in New York and from 2006 to 2011 he was a minister-counselor at the embassy in Washington. Zhang then served as CPIFA vice president from 2011 to 2015.

Видео U.S.-China Relations And Global Uncertainty канала USC U.S.-China Institute