In this episode of the China in the World podcast, Paul Haenle speaks with William C. Kirby, T.M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University. The discussion highlights Dr. Kirby’s new book, Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China (Harvard University Press: 2022). Kirby’s book chronicles two revolutions in higher education over the last two centuries–the birth of the research university and its integration with the liberal education model–drawing illuminating comparisons between notable universities in the United States, Germany, and China. Haenle and Kirby also discuss current events such as the Biden administration’s economic policy toward China, articulated in recent speeches by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, as well as rising U.S.-China tensions over Taiwan.William C. Kirby is the T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He is a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. He serves as Chairman of the Harvard China Fund, the University's academic venture fund for China, and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Center Shanghai, Harvard's first University-wide center located outside the United States. A historian of modern China, Kirby's work examines contemporary China's business, economic, and political development in an international context. He writes and teaches on the growth of modern companies in China (Chinese and foreign; state-owned and private); Chinese corporate law and company structure; business relations across Greater China (PRC, Taiwan, Hong Kong); and China's relations with the United States and Europe.Empire of Ideas can be purchased here: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737716

U.S.-China relations and East Asian affairs have evolved significantly over the last two decades. Nonetheless, many of the same questions continue to challenge policymakers in Washington. How should the United States grapple with a rising China? How should it engage militarily and economically in Asia? How does China factor into the United States’ Asia policy?In a new book, Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama, National Security Council experts from the Bush administration comment on declassified transition memoranda that provide a firsthand look at the foreign policy the Bush administration turned over to President Obama. Join Paul Haenle as he sits down with three other members of the Bush administration’s National Security Council—Michael J. Green, Meghan O'Sullivan, and Faryar Shirzad—to discuss the evolution of U.S. policy toward China and East Asia.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, China-EU relations face mounting uncertainties. Beijing has attempted to tread a fine line between maintaining its strategic partnership with Russia, while mitigating downward pressure on relations with the European Union. China’s 12-point position paper is the latest sign of Beijing’s attempt to portray itself as a neutral party to the conflict in Ukraine. On the other hand, China’s failure to use its influence on Russia to respect the UN Charter has cast doubt in Brussels on the sincerity of Beijing’s plan. Despite their differences, China and the EU maintain common interests in promoting global trade and addressing challenges like climate change. How is Beijing’s position on the Ukraine war impacting China-EU relations? Can Brussels and Beijing cooperate on transnational issues, while managing their differences? What role can Europe play in rising U.S.-China competition?Paul spoke with Dan Baer, senior vice president for policy research and director of the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Chan Heng Chee, Ambassador-at-Large with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore and Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre, and Yawei Liu, senior advisor on China at The Carter Center and an adjunct professor of political science at Emory University. This panel is the fourth of the Carnegie Global Dialogue Series 2022-2023 and is available to be viewed on the Carnegie Endowment's website. https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/04/19/china-eu-relations-one-year-into-ukraine-war-event-8073

On this joint episode of the China in the World podcast and the Asia Chessboard, Jude Blanchette interviews Paul Haenle and two of his former White House National Security Council (NSC) colleagues, Michael Green and Faryar Shirzad, about U.S. policy toward China during the George W. Bush administration. The three experts begin by recapping economic and security ties between the United States and China at the outset of the Bush administration in 2001, discussing the administration’s China policy and the legacy of its approach to Asia more broadly. The conversation then turns to the broader implications of trends in U.S.-China economic relations, which are increasingly characterized by heightened government controls and expectations of loyalty among multinational firms. Next, they emphasize the importance of placing the U.S.-China relationship on better footing and improving communication. They observe how the Bush administration’s efforts to shape the geopolitical environment around China have borne out today and conclude with a call for renewed U.S. pursuit of economic diplomacy. The conversation touches on the China section of the recently published Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama (2023), an edited volume with 30 commentaries and newly declassified transition memoranda, made public for the first time.The Asia Chessboard podcast: https://www.csis.org/podcasts/asia-chessboard/crucial-decade-china-policy-during-george-w-bush-administrationOrder a copy of Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780815739777/Hand-Off-The-Foreign-Policy-George-W-Bush-Passed-to-Barack-Obama   

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the China in the World podcast, Carnegie China is launching a series of lookback episodes, using clips from previous interviews to put current international issues in context. For the third episode in this series, the podcast looks back on 10 years of dealing with the North Korea challenge.Developments on the Korean Peninsula have undergone major changes since the launch of the China in the World podcast. In 2011, Kim Jong-un succeeded his father, Kim Jong-il, as supreme leader of North Korea, beginning his tenure with a series of internal purges and a more assertive military posture. While the Obama administration was able to reach a moratorium agreement with North Korea on nuclear and long-range missile tests in February 2012, the agreement was quickly broken in April 2012 with an attempted space launch of the Unha-3. Between 2013 and 2016, North Korea held three nuclear tests, followed in 2017 by North Korea’s first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the United States, the Hwasong-15. A subsequent “war of words” between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump resulted in the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader in Singapore in 2018, followed by Kim’s “self-imposed” moratorium on nuclear and long-range tests, which was broken in February 2022. Since the Biden administration entered office, North Korea has conducted over 40 missile tests, including 5 ICBM launches, while spurning unconditional diplomatic overtures from Washington. This episode helps shed light on the evolution of geopolitics on the Korean Peninsula over the past 10 years.