21st Century China Center Winter 2018 Newsletter

Greetings!

Last fall was a pivotal season in U.S.-China Relations and China’s domestic politics. Our scholars stayed on top of the events to provide their timely and in-depth analyses. The center assembled expert panels to share their insights on China’s 19th Party Congress to the San Diego community, as well as the foreign policy professionals and Congressional staff in Washington, D.C. and business executives in New York City.

We also hosted forums on strategic and security challenges in East Asia and China’s global engagement. We invite you to visit our new Policy Analysis section that curates original publications and writings from our scholars, and view our new Impact Report that illustrates our value to the field of China studies and constructive bilateral cooperation.

This winter quarter, we continue the conversation on these important themes, starting with the Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture on China to be delivered on Jan. 29 by esteemed political scientist Francis Fukuyama. He will be addressing China’s infrastructure development and Belt-and-Road initiative. On March 21, we host the acclaimed journalist Ian Johnson to deliver the Robert F. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture on religion and China’s future. View the rest of our events below and be sure to join us in March when award-winning author and journalist John Pomfret will give a talk on his new book, “Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom.”

In February, we are partnering with several organizations to convene an international group of China experts and policymakers for a 1.5-Track workshop on the new approaches to reviewing and regulating Chinese high-tech investment in industrialized countries.

Our scholars continue to publish and win awards. Molly Roberts was recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant to innovate analytical tools for text data integration. Yiqing Xu’s paper was awarded the 2018 Miller Prize for the best work appearing in Political Analysis. Barry Naughton’s article “China’s Distinctive System: Can it be a model for others” was ranked as the top 10 articles in the Area Studies category in a Google Scholars Survey. Naughton continues this line of research with his 2017 article “Is China Socialist?” in the Journal of Economic Perspectives that has garnered a lot of attention.

To stay up to date on our upcoming events, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and WeChat (ID: Fudan-UC-21CC). And be sure to tune in to our podcast, China 21.

Warmest regards,

Susan Shirk, Chair, 21st Century China Center; and

Lei Guang, Director, 21st Century China Center

Featured News

Financial Instability in China: Possible Pathways and Their Likelihood

Victor Shih predicts the likely outcomes of financial instability in China on the MERICS China Monitor .

UC San Diego Researchers Analyze Critical Questions for China’s Future

21st Century China Center scholars released six essays on the 19th Party Congress.

Upcoming Events

"China Through the Lens of Friendship Delegations in 1970s"

Jan. 18, 2018 | Register

Join us for a dialog and reception to launch the digital collection of photographs taken by the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS) Friendship Delegations.

Sokwanlok Lecture: "Infrastructure Investment as a Development Strategy"

Jan. 29, 2018 | Register

In the third Sokwanlok Distinguished Lecture on China, Francis Fukuyama, who has written widely on issues in development and international politics, will focus on the economic logic, functioning and vulnerabilities of China’s approach to development.

"China-Mongolia Relations and Taiwan"

Feb. 15, 2018 | Register

Morris Rossabi will discuss the present status of Sino-Mongol political, economic and cultural relations, and will seek to assess the future of Mongolia's contacts with China and Taiwan.

"Silicon Valley’s China Paradox"

Feb. 22, 2018 | Register

Matt Sheehan discusses the relationship between China and Silicon Valley has moved through four phases – dependence, competition, segmentation and synergy.

"Europe-China Relations: New Realities and Implications for the U.S"

March 1, 2018 | Register

Mikko Huotari (German) and Philippe Le Corre (French) will discuss with Susan Shirk the state of play of Europe-China relations, how the EU and its member states position itself vis-a-vis China and the prospects for transatlantic coordination on China.

"Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom"

March 8, 2018 | Register

Drawing on personal letters, diaries, memoirs, government documents and contemporary news reports, John Pomfret reconstructs the surprising, tragic and marvelous ways Americans and Chinese have engaged with one another through the centuries.

Robert F. Ellsworth Memorial Lecture: "The Return of Religion and China's Future"

March 21, 2018 | Register

Acclaimed journalist and Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Ian Johnson will deliver the 2018 Ellsworth Memorial Lecture on how the return of religion is shaping China’s future.

Guest China Scholar & Speakers

Mikko Huotari is h ead of the Geoeconomics and International Security Program at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Germany – the largest European think tank with an exclusive focus on China. Huotari heads the program on China’s foreign relations. His research focuses on China’s foreign policy, China-Europe relations as well as regional order in Asia. He has published extensively on China’s global investment strategy and economic relations with Europe as well as on geopolitical shifts related to China's rise as a global security actor .

Ian Johnson won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of China in 2001, and has also won awards from the Overseas Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2017, he was awarded Stanford University's Shorenstein Journalism Award for lifetime achievement in covering Asia. He has published three books, one on civil society and grassroots protest in China and another on Islamism and the Cold War in Europe. His most recent book is “The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao” (2017), which explores China's search for values in the reform era.

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and the Mosbacher Director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. Fukuyama’s book, “The End of History and the Last Man,” was published by Free Press in 1992 and has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His most recent book is “Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy.”

John Pomfret is the author of “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom,” winner of the 2017 Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award. He is also authored the critically acclaimed book “Five Classmates and the Story of the New China.” Pomfret served as a foreign correspondent for 15 years, including seven years covering China for The Washington Post. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University and was one of the first American students to go to China and study at Nanjing University .

Quick Links

China Focus

China Focus is an online magazine dedicated to providing depth and context for understanding China and U.S.-China relations. It is run by GPS students with the support of the center.

China Research Workshops

This interdisciplinary workshop series features new academic research by UC San Diego scholars and visiting researchers. Lunch is provided to registered attendees.

China 21 Podcast

Listen to our latest episodes, and subscribe for updates on iTunes and Google Play:

Support

Starting with their angel investment in 2012, our founders have remained supporting pillars of the center. Beginning in 2016, a new group of members, called the 21st Century China Center Leadership Circle, joined the founders in generously supporting the center activities. The center also welcomes gifts from alumni, community members and corporate partners.

21st Century China Center

School of Global Policy and Strategy

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Questions? Contact 21china@ucsd.edu