US-China Relations in Difficult Times
The US-China relationship is at its lowest point in decades. To what extent are these tensions a result of recent policy changes toward China?
This talk will describe the recent political changes in China and the US that have produced the tensions in the bilateral relationship and assess the prospects for cooperation between the two countries.
Professor Sara Newland points out that “Domestic political calculations within each country, coupled with a changing international environment, have produced dangerous levels of tension in arguably the most important bi-lateral relationship in the contemporary world.” These changes in great power politics may well touch the lives of citizens on the ground,” she adds. “Even in western Massachusetts.”
“It’s important for Americans to understand the prospects
for and obstacles to sustaining cooperation in the coming years,” says Newland. " If the US-China relationship continues to deteriorate, it could touch every aspect of our lives, from our security to the products we see on the grocery store shelves.”
The Speaker
Sara Newland is an assistant professor of government at Smith College. Her research focuses on local governance in mainland China and Taiwan, and most recently on the role of subnational diplomacy in the relationship between the US, Taiwan, and mainland China. Her research has been published in Pacific Review, Governance, China Quarterly, and the Journal of Political Science Education. Dr. Newland is a member of the U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group and a fellow in the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Previously, she was an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University and a China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.