June 23, 2020 – The Logic and Results of US Engagement with China
Dr. Thomas Fingar
Shorenstein APARC Fellow, Stanford University
Tuesday, June 23, 2020, 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) via Google Meet
If you are an NSF member, you will receive an invitation by email to this online event. Please check your email and RSVP your attendance. If you would like to attend this meeting, become a member today!
We hope everyone in our NSF community is staying safe during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Randi, myself, and the NSF Board are committed to continuing to bring you excellent and timely programs virtually while encouraging everyone in our community to stay healthy and safe. For our June program, we are returning to Zoom because it offers superior webinar capabilities. Unless there are new issues that arise we intend to continue to use Zoom for the remainder of our 2020 programs.
If you missed our April and May programs that were held online, please check out the videos posted on the NSF website of Dr. James Wilson and Panelists (April program on COVID-19 Impacts to Nevada) and Mr. John McNellis (May program on the new Space Force). Scroll down on the landing page to get to our video links): https://nationalsecurityforum.org
Our Zoom webinars are open to the first 100 registrants, so please register early. If you decide that you can’t make it later please delete your registration to allow others to join.
On to the program details for 23 June 2020….
Dr. Thomas Fingar will share insights about the evolution of US-China Relations during nine administrations and how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the relationship. Dr. Fingar is a China expert who last spoke to NSF in July 2018. You may want to check out the program summary before his upcoming talk. He is a co-editor of “Fateful Decisions: Choices that Will Shape China’s Future” which was published by Stanford in 2020. Tom has worked on, with, and in China since the Nixon administration, including 20 years in Washington.
Much recent commentary on US relations with China claims that the policy of “Engagement” was a foolish and failed attempt to transform the People’s Republic into an American style democracy that instead created an authoritarian rival. This narrative mocks the policies of eight US Administrations to justify calls for “Decoupling” and “Containment 2.0.” Fingar’s talk will challenge this narrative by examining the origins, logic, and achievements of Engagement and explain why Decoupling is neither wise nor attainable.
Tom will also examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on US-China relations and how all these factors are playing out with regard to Hong Kong and its future as a semi-autonomous nation.
Please join us for a very stimulating talk and engaging Q&A session on Zoom. You will be able to enter your questions in the Zoom chatbox or you can email them to me at [email protected] or Randi at [email protected] before or during the presentation.
Dr. Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the inaugural Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow in 2010-2015 and the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford in 2009. From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis and, concurrently, as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Dr. Fingar served previously as Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-2001 and 2004-2005), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (2001-2003), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis (1994-2000), Director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific (1989-1994), and Chief of the China Division (1986-1989). Between 1975 and 1986 he held a number of positions at Stanford University, including Senior Research Associate in the Center for International Security and Arms Control. Dr. Fingar is a graduate of Cornell University (A.B. in Government and History, 1968), and Stanford University (M.A., 1969 and Ph.D., 1977 both in Political Science). His most recent books are “Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security” (Stanford University Press, 2011), “The New Great Game: China and South and Central Asia in the Era of Reform”, editor (Stanford, 2016), “Uneasy Partnerships: China and Japan, the Koreas, and Russia in the Era of Reform”, editor (Stanford, 2017), and “China’s Path to the Future: Challenges, Constraints, and Choices” edited with Jean C. Oi (Stanford, 2020).