EVENTS
Panels, webinars, and other events sponsored by the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy or other organizations with a similar outlook.
Chinese Responses to the Gaza War and its Regional Consequences
Date & Time
April 11, 2024, 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Click here to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KGPJjKwMQzWe7DqCPpcfQA#/registration
Description:
The deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli devastation of Gaza and resulting humanitarian catastrophe have generated geopolitical repercussions throughout the Middle East and beyond. In addition to regional actors like Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, all of the major powers, including China, Russia, and the United States, have sought to realign their foreign policies to maximize positive outcomes from the Israel/Gaza disaster and minimize negative consequences. We have heard a lot about the U.S. response to the Gaza disaster, but far less about that of these other countries, especially China.
But while China is not a major player in the Israel/Hamas dispute, it has been increasingly active in the Middle East and has sought to play an active role in resolving the conflict. What, then, is China's stance on the Israel/Hamas dispute, and how does Beijing propose to resolve it? To address these questions, the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy will bring together a number of informed scholars for a webinar on the topic on Thursday, April 11, at 8 PM EDT. We are sure you will find the discussion informative and stimulating!
Panelists:
Dr. Wang Danning is a research fellow of Beijing’s Charhar Institute. She is founder and Board Chair of Belt and Road Culture Exchange Foundation for Women, a Hong Kong non-profit.
Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University.
Webinar Wed., Dec. 13, 7:00 PM Eastern:
THE BIDEN-XI SUMMIT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
With Panelists:
Michael Klare, Professor Emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College and defense correspondent, The Nation
Yun Sun, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, Washington, D.C.
Zhiqun Zhu, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University
The November 15th San Francisco summit between Presidents Biden of the U.S. and Xi Jinping of China is now history. While we can all breathe a little easier as a result of their joint pledges to reduce tensions and improve cooperation on climate change and other issues, the structural forces that drive U.S.-Chinese competition in the military, economic, technological, and diplomatic arenas persist. This webinar constituted an in-depth discussion of the summit against the background of these forces and considered possible trajectories for U.S.-China relations in 2024.
Initiated by: Committee for a Sane US-China Policy
Co-Sponsored by: Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security; Massachusetts Peace Action
To View, click here
Webinar: June 26, 7:00-8:30 PM EDT:
SHIFTING POWER DYNAMICS:
Ukraine, Russia, and U.S.-China Relations in a Multipolar World
To view a recording of this event, click here
While the Biden administration tends to perceive the world as being divided between two great power blocs – with the U.S. and its allies on one side and a nefarious alliance of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea on the other – most of the world sees a more complex picture, with multiple centers of power and complex, fluid arrangements among the major players. This is evident in the world's response to the war in Ukraine.
While many in Washington believe that the entire world (minus those four bad actors) supports Western-backed efforts to ensure a decisive Ukrainian victory over Russia, most leaders of the Global South have avoided taking sides in the war and prefer an early negotiated settlement. What they see emerging is a multipolar world, in which the U.S., the EU, China, Russia, India, and other countries exercise significant global power and influence, along with regional powers like Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa. In this new era, addressing global problems like climate change, pandemics, and major wars like that in Ukraine will require coordination and cooperation among several of these power centers, not just two.
The panelists in this webinar will address such questions as: What are the changing power dynamics of the emerging multipolar world? How is the emergence of a multipolar world affecting the U.S., China, and U.S.-China relations? How is the the emergence of a multipolar world affecting global efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine? Ample time will be reserved for audience members to submit their own questions to the panelists.
Panelists:
Joseph Camilleri, Emeritus Professor of Politics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Helena Cobban, non-resident Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy, Washington, D.C.
Michael Klare, Senior Visiting Fellow, Arms Control Association, Washington, D.C.
WHAT SHOULD U.S. POLICY TOWARDS TAIWAN BE?
~A Panel Discussion with Mike Mochizuki and Zhiqun Zhu, and with Michael Klare as Moderator
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023, 7:00 PM EST
To see a recording of this webinar, click here
What should U.S. policy toward Taiwan be? Can U.S.-Chinese military operations and tensions over Taiwan be defused? If so, how?
With the U.S. and China engaged in provocative military operations in and near Taiwan or miscalculation could trigger a catastrophic U.S.-Chinese war, very possibly nuclear, in which other nations, including Japan and South Korea, would be involved.
Other ways are possible. Join China scholars Zhiqun Zhu, Mike Mochizuki, and Michael Klare in exploring alternative U.S. policies that we can press on Congress and the Biden Administration.
Mike Mochizuki is the Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.
Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University. He was inaugural director of the China Institute, and MacArthur Chair in East Asian politics.
Michael Klare, Webinar Moderator, is professor emeritus of peace and world-security studies at Hampshire College and Co-Chair of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy.
THE COMING WAR WITH CHINA:
What Are the Causes? What Will It Entail? How Can It Be Prevented?
~A Webcast Presentation by Michael Klare
Co-Chair, Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy
To Brooklyn for Peace, March 2, 2023
To watch a recording of this event, click here
Webinar:
Myths, Realities, and Implications of China’s Nuclear Buildup
Thursday, February 2, 2023, 7:00 P.M. EST
With panelists Michael Klare, Hans Kristensen, and Tong Zhao
To view this panel, click here
About this program: The Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military power, released on Nov. 29, 2022, claims that China’s nuclear stockpile will jump from some 400 warheads today to an estimated 1,500 warheads in 2035. This claim has been seized upon by military hawks in Congress to fuel their clamor for increased military spending, approving a record $858 fiscal year 2023 Pentagon budget – $45 billion more than President Biden requested. Most of the increased spending was earmarked for weaponry to counter China.
While most observers agree that Beijing is expanding and modernizing its very small (as compared to those of the U.S. and Russia) nuclear force, there is widespread debate as to the scale and rapidity of those endeavors. With many in Washington now citing the Pentagon’s claims of a Chinese nuclear buildup to justify the further expansion of America’s already vast nuclear arsenal, it is essential to interrogate the claims of the Pentagon’s China military power report lest we all be drawn into a new, profoundly dangerous arms race.
The Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy invites you to join three outstanding experts to learn more about China’s nuclear buildup, the debate over its scale and intent, and how all this might inform U.S. foreign and military policy.
Panelists:
Michael Klare is co-chair of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy and a senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C.
Hans Kristensen is director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Nuclear Notebook, a column in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that includes an annual review of Chinese nuclear forces.
Zhao Tong is a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Science and Global Security Program.
Co-sponsored by the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Webinar Tuesday, October 11, 8-9:30 PM EDT, 5-6:30 PM PDT:
THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR US-CHINA RELATIONS
~A Panel Discussion with John Feffer, Michael Klare, and Rajan Menon
A Recording of this Webinar can be Viewed Here
The Ukraine War has become increasingly dangerous, with increased U.S. military involvement and Russian threats to employ nuclear weapons. It has also complicated the Russian-Chinese military and economic partnership, with enormous consequences for the world – not least the increasingly confrontational U.S.-China competition for Asia-Pacific hegemony.
Noted analysts John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus, Michael Klare of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy, and Prof. Rajan Menon of Columbia University will assess these developments and offer listeners an opportunity to raise questions of their own. The moderator will be Prof. Avi Chomsky of Salem State University.
Sponsored by the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy, the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security, and Massachusetts Peace Action
Webinar May 18, 7:00-8:30 PM EDT
GLOBAL REPERCUSSIONS:
THE UKRAINE WAR, RUSSIA, AND U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
A Recording of the May 8 Webinar can be seen here
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having global repercussions. Aside from reordering the security architecture in Europe, it is having a profound impact on U.S.-China relations and their mutual competition for power and influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Before the war began, Russia and China avowed that their cooperation has "no limits," but after its onset, China has sought to play a neutral role, neither condemning Moscow for its invasion nor, from what can be determined, providing Russia with significant material assistance. But as the war has drawn on and the casualties have mounted, many in Washington are calling on Beijing to play a more assertive role in forcing Putin to desist in Ukraine – or face negative consequences itself. Anger over the Russian invasion is also leading many U.S. leaders to call for tougher measures aimed at deterring a Chinese invasion of Taiwan – measures that are sure to infuriate Beijing and increase tensions in the Asia-Pacific.
With the world's geopolitical disorder undergoing its most profound and dangerous upset since the end of the Cold War, the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy has organized this uniquely important webinar to assess the impact of the Ukraine war on strategic developments in Asia.
Our panelists will include:
Shihoko Goto is Director for Geoeconomics and Indo-Pacific Enterprise and Deputy Director for the Asia Program at the Wilson Center. Her research focuses on the economics and politics of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, as well as U.S. policy in Northeast Asia. A seasoned journalist and analyst, she has reported from Tokyo and Washington for Dow Jones and UPI and serves as a columnist for The Diplomat and contributing editor to The Globalist.
Michael T. Klare, The Nation's defense correspondent, is professor emeritus of peace and world-security studies at Hampshire College, senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C., and co-founder of the Committee for a Sane U.S.- China Policy. His most recent book is All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon's Perspective on Climate Change.
Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University. He was Bucknell's inaugural Director of the China Institute (2013–2017) and MacArthur Chair in East Asian politics (2008–2014). He previously taught at Hamilton College, University of Bridgeport, and Shanghai International Studies University. His books include U.S.-China Relations in the 21st Century: Power Transition and Peace.
This webinar is organized by the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy and Co-sponsored by the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
WEBINAR: February 28, 8:00-9:30 PM EST:
COUNTERING ANTI-ASIAN RACISM
The Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy organized a Countering Anti-Asian Racism webinar on February 28 to examine the intersections between US colonial and anti-China policies in Asia and the Pacific and the past and present of anti-Asian racism in the United States.
TO VIEW THIS WEBINAR: CLICK HERE
Panelists:
Tobita Chow: Director of Justice Is Global, a project of People’s Action and steering committee member of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy
Moon-Ho Jung: Professor of History, University of Washington
Jenny J. Lee: Professor, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona
Moderator: Avi Chomsky: Professor of History and the Coordinator of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies, Salem State University
From the time Chinese laborers first arrived in the United States nearly two centuries ago, through the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II to today, Asians and Pacific Islanders have been colonized, attacked, excluded, marginalized, discriminated against, and been the victims of brutal racist violence.
Current anti-China politics have domestic as well as international expression. Racism, racist violence, and discrimination against Asian Americans have risen in tandem with anti-China politics. The FBI’s infamous “China Initiative,” supposedly intended to stop Chinese theft of military and scientific secrets, instead targeted respected scientists for merely failing to report ties to Chinese scientific institutions.
To better expose this history and the relationship between anti-Asian policies and anti-Asian racism at home, and to explain how we can help end these injustices, the Committee invited three noted scholars and activists to participate in this important webinar.
Organized by the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy and co-sponsored by the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Webinar January 25:
THE UYGHURS OF CHINA:
WHO THEY ARE, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY
A Panel Discussion with:
· Garner Bovington, author of The Uyghurs: Strangers in Their Own Land and professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University
· Alkan Akad, China Specialist, Amnesty International
· Kate Kizer, human rights advocate and columnist at Responsible Statecraft
Why this panel? The Chinese government’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority has become one of the most contentious issues in U.S.-China relations. American officials regularly denounce the Chinese leadership for what it claims is the “genocide” of the Uyghurs, while Chinese leaders deny the claims and say Washington’s obsession with the issue is obstructing normal bilateral relations.
What is the truth of the matter? Obtaining accurate, unbiased information on the treatment of the Uyghurs in China’s far-western Xinjiang Autonomous Region is difficult. The Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy has organized this webinar with experts on the Uyghur situation to address this and related questions and discuss appropriate U.S. responses.
To view a recording of the webinar on YouTube, click here: https://youtu.be/9b8Sx3UUltg
Nov. 17 Webinar: China’s Nuclear Expansion:
—The Challenges, Implications, and Risk Reduction Options
Panelists:
-Gerald Brown, defense analyst at Valiant Integrated Services
-Rose Gottemoeller, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security and deputy secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
-Lynn Rusten, vice president of the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
View at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjD56mvU8uw
The panelists addressed the factors that appear to be driving China to augment its nuclear capabilities and what those advancements mean for strategic and regional stability, the importance of dialogue and engagement with Beijing on nuclear risk reduction and options for doing so, and the implications of China’s nuclear advances for U.S. nuclear force posture and modernization. Sponsored by the Arms Control Association
October 27 Webinar: CHINA, THE U.S., AND TAIWAN
—The World’s Most Dangerous Flashpoint?
A panel discussion with Professor Zhiqun Zhu of Bucknell University, Brian Chee Shing-Hioe of New Bloom in Taiwan, and Michael Klare of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy. Professor Avi Chomsky of Salem State University moderated the webinar. Aired Wednesday, October 27, 2021, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM Eastern
As tensions between the U.S. and China have ratcheted up, Taiwan has emerged as a major flashpoint in world affairs. China has threatened to invade Taiwan if it declares independence, while American officials have suggested that such a move could trigger U.S. military intervention - igniting a three-way conflict that might easily escalate into a nuclear conflagration. This panel examined the roots of the Taiwan dilemma, the risks of a U.S.-China war over Taiwan, and alternatives to conflict. Sponsored by: Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy, Back from the Brink of Western Massachusetts, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, and Massachusetts Peace Action
To watch the webinar, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/lBDZ2r-AMLVubvyKCPFJ6pgZyAaROg9wivkVcOUf-RfAiQ962QWA_2SVQZHmzNxb.TH6gH7SyrDSrUcbl
If needed, insert the passcode: C%d%4au1
August 26 Webinar: The U.S. and China – Past, Present and Future
~ Conflict and Cooperation in U.S.-China Relations
Presentations by Mark Selden and Zhiqun Zhu, Steering Committee Members of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy
As we build a movement to pull the U.S. and China back from the brink, people have been expressing the need to know more about Chinese history and the history of U.S.-Chinese cooperation and confrontation. This webinar sought to help satisfy this need by providing background on these critical issues. Co-sponsored by the Committee for a Sane U.S. China Policy, Massachusetts Peace Action, and the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security.
Mark Selden is a Senior Research Associate in the East Asia Program of Cornell University; Zhu Zhiqun is Professor and Chair of the Department of International Relations of Bucknell University.
To view the webinar on YouTube, click here
Presentation by Michael Klare:
“The New Cold War with China: Can We Prevent It From Going Hot?”
On April 28, 2021, the Committee’s Co-Founder, Michael Klare, gave a presentation to the Upper Hudson Peace Action on the factors that might lead the current hostility between the U.S. and China to precipitate a full-scale war between them. To view Klare’s presentation on YouTube, Click here
Webinar on China, the U.S., & the Risk of Nuclear War
Held April 7, 2021
On April 7, 2021, the Committee - in conjunction with Back from the Brink of Western Mass., Physicians for Social Responsibility of the Pioneer Valley, and the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership - conducted a Webinar on “China, the U.S., and the Risk of Nuclear War.” The webinar was moderated by Michael Klare, co-founder of the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy and featured presentations by Rachel Esplin Odell of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Tong Zhao of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Zia Mian of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security.
The Webinar began with a presentation by Rachel Esplin Odell on the points of tension in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the area around Taiwan. It was followed by a presentation by Tong Zhao on U.S. and Chinese nuclear policies and how these might contribute to nuclear escalation. In the final presentation, Zia Mian discussed possible strategies for lessening the risk of a U.S.-China nuclear war.
To See a Recording of the Webinar, Click Here
Webinar: Biden and China: Challenges and Opportunities
Held January 27, 2021
On January 27, 2021, the Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy conducted its inaugural webinar, on the challenges facing the incoming Biden administration regarding U.S.-China relations. The three panelists were Michael Klare, Co-Founder of the Committee, Rachel Esplin Odell of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and Zhiqun Zhu of Bucknell University. Topics covered included Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade disputes, and other divisive issues in U.S.-China relations.
The webinar has been recorded and saved at YouTube and can be seen by clicking here