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It’s easy, in the United States, to talk about China as a monolith. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. As in the West, Chinese society is divided by inequality, geography, gender, and generation — after all, China is home to more than one billion people. As we seek to understand China’s role in the 21st century, we do well to consider where change is comin...
The US approach to China, H. R. McMaster argues, has long been based on the faulty assumption that China will “play by the rules” once integrated into the international political and economic order. Instead, the United States must think empathetically to understand what China really wants — and then plan accordingly. Join McMaster and The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg as the...
Chinese President Xi Jinping is poised to start his second five-year term when the 19th Party Congress convenes in Beijing this fall. Under him, a new generation of leaders will emerge as China continues to position itself for maximum strategic and economic influence around the globe. As the United States enters an era of “America first,” Beijing is launching projects of s...
Under Xi Jinping, China has become more authoritarian at home and more aggressive overseas. As China becomes increasingly economically dominant, what are the economic, political, and military realities of America’s most important “frenemy”? Panelists with unique insights into the world’s most populous country give us an in-depth look.
In this new Aspen Ideas format, all attendees gather each morning to kick off the day by exploring a current issue of deep complexity. With heightened political tensions and an ongoing trade war, some experts argue that new ways of thinking about America’s relationship with China are necessary. Business leaders point out that we are deeply invested in China, such that n...
China’s economy is slowing and the world has no choice but to pay attention. And in Beijing, Xi Jinping’s administration pursues policies increasingly divergent from democratic ideals. These developments are philosophically challenging, especially as they concern the world’s largest population and second-largest economy. And yet they also pose threats to multilateral coope...
China is the world’s biggest energy consumer and carbon emitter. It needs more energy, and it wants it cleaner. So it’s pursuing the biggest push for low-carbon energy the world has ever seen. But China’s green drive is messy and uncertain – full of geopolitical fighting, technological uncertainty, and investor risk. What’s happening? Who’s profiting? And will it do much f...
The US government misjudged the rise of China over the last decade — as the country has grown in economic power, it's become more rambunctious internationally, not less. Its Belt and Road Initiative is winning over countries that used to be US allies. It’s expanding its military power and reach in the South China Sea, attacking US companies in cyberspace, and advancing in...
Winner of the 2014 National Book Award, Osnos based “Age of Ambition” on eight years of living in Beijing, and traces the rise of the individual in China, and the clash between aspiration and authoritarianism. (Book signing to follow.)
The China-US relationship appears to have arrived this year at two inter-related flashpoints, on trade and technology, as President Trump’s administration enters a trade war that has destabilized world markets and has gone to war too against China’s tech giant Huawei. What’s really at the core of the trade dispute—and just how dominant is China’s lead on next-generation 5G...
A global pandemic. Economic piracy. Predatory pricing. Military investment. These are among the challenges that color the concerns expressed by Utah Senator Mitt Romney regarding China’s rise, both politically and economically. In discussion with Lanhee Chen, a fellow at Hoover Institution, Romney shares his deep belief that the US can not stand alone in its drive to requi...
Are young people in each country likely to get along better than their parents’ generation? Mutual mistrust seems to define the attitudes of today’s leaders, but does the younger generation offer hope — or are the forces of fear and nationalism likely to trump the need for cooperation?
After 40 years of largely cooperative Sino-US relations, policymakers, politicians, and pundits on both sides of the Pacific see growing tensions between the United States and China. Some go so far as to predict a future of conflict, driven by the inevitable rivalry between an established and a rising power, and urge their leaders to prepare now for a future showdown. Othe...
Like cities around the country, Chicago has been plagued by an epidemic of nearly constant bloodletting. What strategies have been most promising? What insights can we take from the local leaders who are losing friends, students, and community members with horrifying regularity? What do they think it will take for meaningful change to happen?
The Aspen Challenge presents three high school teams from Philadelphia and one team from Chicago who developed brilliant solutions to issues they see plaguing their communities. See these young change-makers take to the stage to prove that effective community solutions can be created at any age. Learn how Wendell Philips High School is improving police relations and violen...
Last month the University of Chicago started the first School of Molecular Engineering in the United States. If the university world had the equivalent of a venture backed unicorn, this might well be the role model. Starting with an idea, Bob Zimmer worked with his faculty to conceptualize an effort around designing and building from the molecular level up. Starting at...
In 2018, economic activity was accelerating in almost all regions of the world. One year later, much has changed. The escalation of US-China trade tensions, credit tightening in China, and macroeconomic stress in key G20 economies have all contributed to a weakened global expansion. As the US trade war with China deepens, what are the biggest risks at this delicate moment?...
With renewed conflict on the international stage, India’s decades-long policy of nonalignment, together with its surpassing China as the most populous nation, have arguably positioned it to become the world’s newest superpower. To what ends is it harnessing its growing influence and geopolitical independence?
After decades with no significant geopolitical rivals, the United States now faces the emergence of China as a major adversary. How will this change the landscape of the emerging world order? What new forms of geopolitical conflict will arise, and what new forms of cooperation are necessary?