China in Latin America:
How Should the US Respond?
Thursday, February 20, 2025
NSF Hybrid Event
In-Person at
Tamarack Casino
13101 S. Virginia St, Reno, NV
(Park and enter using Banquet Hall door on the north side of the building)
Breakfast served 8:00-9:00am, Forum 9:00-10:15am
$30 members/$35 guests
Virtual on Zoom
Forum 9:00-10:15am PST
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fj5vlhYWTxSMKKiVdaTfHw
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Dr. Xiaoyu Pu
UNR, Assoc. Prof of Political Science
Margaret Myers
Managing Director, Institute for America, China, and Future of Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
(Former Director, Asia & Latin American Program at the Inter-American Dialogue)
Thank you to all who joined us last month for a very moving tribute to our dear friend and NSF Founder, Dr. Ty Cobb. We were honored to have Ty’s wife, Suellen, and his brother, Bill and his wife Cathleen join us at Tamarack for the forum. If you missed it, the program video and tributes are posted on the NSF website at: Ty Cobb Tribute Check these out to hear some moving and funny tributes to a man who taught us grace and the power of informed, civil dialogue in challenging times.
As we pivot our attention to issues of importance to the new Trump Administration, we have a myriad of topics to cover. A prevailing issue now and for the foreseeable future is how the US engages China and responds to actions that China is taking around the world. Covering US-China relations in one forum would be a more than daunting task, so I have opted to focus on specific China related topics periodically throughout the next few years.
“Considerable debate has since emerged among Chinese scholars and officials about the extent to which an increasingly assertive overseas posture will be problematic or China’s leadership in the coming years, provoking more adverse responses from host countries and other observers.” (Pu and Myers, 2022 J. Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 5(1))
Of particular interest at this moment is China’s role in Latin America Countries (LAC) including (but not limited to) its business interests in the immediate proximity of the Panama Canal. China’s interests in Latin America have been steadily increasing over the last decade. Does this pose a threat to the US (now or in the future) and how should we respond? Is the Chinese leadership in danger of “strategic overstretching” if the costs of maintaining influence in so many corners of the globe outweigh the benefits?
“The US reaction to China’s growing dynamism in LAC will very likely boost the region’s importance in domestic discussions in China about the risks of strategic overstretching, especially if the US–China competition intensifies in the region. (Pu and Myers, 2022 J. Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 5(1))
NSF is honored to have two authories on just this topic join us for our hybrid forum on Thursday Feb 20th. Dr. Xiaoyu Pu, Assoc Prof in Political Science at UNR and local subject matter expert, will be joined by his colleague Margaret Myers, Managing Director, Institute for America, China, and Future of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. They co-authored an excellent paper in the Journal of Chinese Affairs, on this topic in 2022, entitled “Overstretching or Overreaction? China’s Rise in Latin American and the US Response.” You can access the article at: Pu-Meyers in J. Chinese Affairs
I asked Dr. Pu and Ms. Myers to summarize their findings and update their thoughts as we face a new set of challenges and USG foreign policy strategies in 2025. They will tag team the featured presentation, leaving ample time for your questions (in-person and on Zoom).
As I write this program announcement, China’s “tit-for-tat tariffs on the US” are set to take effect tomorrow, Mon Feb 10th. The near and long-term impacts of the new 10% tariffs on selected Chinese goods that the Trump Administration implemented last week along with China’s response are being debated in economic and policy circles. Given the prominent role that tariffs play in the Trump Administration foreign policy, I am recruiting speaker(s) to cover the sanctions and tariffs topic at a future NSF forum. In the meantime, the Council on Foreign Relations updated their “What are Tariffs?” Backgrounder on Feb 3rd 2025. I recommend you check out this excellent online resource, authored by Anshu Siripurapu and Noah Berman, and available at: CFR What are Tariffs?.
Please join us for this timely and important discussion to learn and share your thoughts and questions. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you on Feb 20th. In the meantime, Keep Calm and Carry On! We have a lot to learn from our speakers and each other.
NSF remains committed to keeping you informed about issues beyond the headlines and from multiple perspectives. Stay up to date on NSF programs by subscribing to our mailing list at: NSF Mailing List or better yet become a member at: Become a Member. We meet at Tamarack Casino in South Reno. When you turn into the parking lot turn right and follow the signs for the “Banquet Room.” Park anywhere on the northside of the building and enter via the walkway into the reception hall for the banquet room. We will see you there!!! You can always email Kimberly at: [email protected] or me at: [email protected] if you have questions or need more information about the location.
Dr. Xiaoyu Pu is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada and an expert on China’s foreign policy and international relations. He is the author of Rebranding China: Contested Status Signaling in the Changing Global Order and has published extensively in top academic journals, including International Security, International Affairs, and The China Quarterly. Dr. Pu is a public intellectual fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and has contributed to global policy discussions through engagements with institutions such as Australian National University, Harvard University, NATO Defense College, and the Inter-American Dialogue. His expertise has appeared in national and international media such as The Washington Post, BBC, and Al Jazeera. Dr. Pu earned his PhD from Ohio State University and completed postdoctoral training at Princeton University.
Margaret Myers is Managing Director, Institute for America, China, and Future of Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She previously worked as the director of the Asia & Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She publishes extensively on Chinese leadership dynamics, international capital flows, Chinese agricultural policy, and Asia-Latin America relations, among other topics. The Political Economy of China-Latin America Relations and The Changing Currents of Trans-Pacific Integration: China, the TPP, and Beyond, her co-edited volumes with Dr. Carol Wise and Dr. Adrian Hearn, respectively, were published in 2016. Myers has testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the China-Latin America relationship and is regularly featured in major domestic and international media, including the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, El Comercio, Folha de São Paulo, CNN en Español, CCTV, and Voice of America. In 2018, she was identified by Global Americans as part of the “new generation of public intellectuals.” Before the Inter-American Dialogue, Myers worked as a Latin America analyst and China analyst for the US Department of Defense, during which time she was deployed with the US Navy in support of Partnership of the Americas. Myers also worked as a senior China analyst for Science Applications International Corporation, a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, a faculty member at Georgetown University and the George Washington University, and for Fauquier County Schools, where she developed the county’s first Mandarin language program. Myers received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and conducted her graduate work at The George Washington University, Zhejiang University of Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University/Nanjing University Center for Chinese-American Studies. Myers was a Council on Foreign Relations term member. She was also the recipient of a Freeman fellowship for China studies and aFulbright Specialist grant to research China-Colombia relations in Bogotá.
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