Global Impacts of U.S. AI Policy: Balancing Regulation, Competition, and Optimism

July 18, 2024 World Affairs Council Blog, China, North America

U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law hearing on artificial intelligence. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation and Competition

Between COVID-19, global conflicts, democratic backsliding, and escalating U.S.-China tensions, the 2020s have not had an inspiring first half. Amidst this backdrop, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have changed the long game for international relations. According to Nathaniel C. Fick, ambassador for cyberspace and digital policy at the State Department, tech is increasingly becoming “the whole game,” and will be a defining sector for U.S.-China competition. Given the risks associated with unfettered AI use and development, regulation is inevitable. However, U.S. AI policies and regulations should remain conscientious of the potential global impacts of domestic policies.

Currently, the U.S. and China are leaders in AI research and technology, with Silicon Valley alone hosting several major AI developers such as Anthropic, Google, Meta, and Open-AI. AI presents various concerns surrounding data privacy, job replacement, and disinformation. Consequently, significant discourse in the U.S. revolves around ways to regulate AI, and has resulted in an emerging patchwork of legislation at the state and federal levels. Despite this, global uses are often secondary in U.S. AI policy discourse, as discussion is often framed in the context of domestic impacts, cyber security, and U.S.-China tech competition. As other countries will largely be subscribing to U.S. or Chinese AI systems, the U.S. should pursue its tech policy through a global lens if it aims to assert leadership and set responsible global norms for this technology. China has already established a variety of AI regulatory policies from which the U.S. can learn from and refine with global applications in mind.

Despite being a top AI developer, the U.S. is comparatively less optimistic about the positive potential of AI than its global counterparts. In Google and Ipsos’ 2024 report “Our Life with AI,” there is a disconnect across surveys on AI outlooks, with the U.S. reporting the least optimism around AI of countries surveyed. In contrast, countries categorized as emerging had the most optimistic outlooks on AI’s potential. This disconnect in optimism could impact U.S. attempts to regulate AI. If domestic efforts are less receptive to AI’s positive potential and are not globally conscientious, then well meaning policies could inadvertently contribute to the global tech divide, and neglect AI’s positive uses towards development.

Optimism for Sustainable Development

A major source of global optimism surrounding AI is its potential to accelerate sustainable development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals to improve socio-economic and political issues adopted by all United Nations Member States (193 countries) in 2015 for achievement by 2030. Now, more than halfway to 2030, 84% of SDG targets have stagnated or seen progress regression, and only 16% are on track or have been met. This stagnation can be partially attributed to the socio-economic strains caused by COVID-19, however, current action is necessary if these goals are still to be met by the 2030 target. There is optimism surrounding AI’s potential to accelerate and recuperate progress across all 17 goals.

Based on the 2024 research brief “AI in Action,” by Google, AI can especially impact progress on SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). This is particularly motivating given that these goals currently face challenges ranging from “major” to “significant”. Currently, the largest category for AI’s potential use towards the SDGs is within healthcare (SDG 3), constituting 28% of SDG use cases. These uses span diagnosis, research, clinical, and preventative care, and can improve progress on SDG 3 by expanding medical knowledge and improving treatments. A similar optimism can be seen with AI’s potential for assisting SDG 4 towards quality education via access to affordable education and individualized instruction given access to the internet.

Perhaps most promising is the potential for AI to improve progress on climate action (SDG 13). According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report, the three greatest concerns in the next ten years were environmentally related across experts surveyed in the civil society, international organization, academia, government, and private sectors. This is due to climate change’s ability to amplify threats to human security through forced displacement, food scarcity, and extreme weather. In this regard, there is significant potential for AI to assist with emission monitoring and preventative action before climate disruptions and displacement.

Globally Minded Policy

It is important that U.S. AI policy bears global application in mind to encourage AI’s positive uses for development. Participants of the September 18th 2023, United Nations’ 78th Session High Level Week expressed agreement that the development of AI has the potential to accelerate SDG progress, but could worsen the global tech divide if not responsibly and inclusively developed. One recommendation for improving AI’s global application includes promoting standards of reliable and representative datasets to avoid algorithmic bias. Algorithmic bias is already a concern surrounding AI in the U.S., however, promoting measures for cultural, linguistic, and perspective diversity in data sets will strengthen its potential for positive impact globally.

Developing effective regulations will also involve learning from the pitfalls of past technology policies. With the rise of social media, as detailed in David Kay’s book “Speech Police,” digital privacy and safety concerns by governments drove regulations that placed pressure on private companies to self-regulate their user’s content, resulting in a concentration of censorship power in some private companies. With AI, it is important that emerging policies do not end at company self-regulation, but maintain governmental review for accountability. Furthermore, given the U.S.’ global AI leadership and competition with China, U.S. AI policies should regularly include global considerations into regulation to ensure that legislation does not limit positive potential and that the U.S. remains a competitive global provider for beneficial AI uses.

Conclusion

Globally-minded U.S. policies on AI could provide advantages for the U.S. in its tech competition with China by appealing to global markets and making AI’s positive applications globally more attainable. AI has the potential to advance progress on stagnating SDGs, and U.S. policymakers should maintain global perspectives in developing regulations to help facilitate these applications. This should include policy emphasis on representatively diverse datasets and accountability measures at the company and government levels. While this decade has had a tense start, globally conscious U.S. leadership in AI could help secure a more prosperous turn of the decade.

Written by Research & Development Intern, Eli Sepulveda

China and Japan: A Return to a Rocky Relationship of the Past?

August 29, 2023 World Affairs Council Blog, China

On Thursday, August 24, 2023 at 1:30 Japan officially began its plan to release treated radioactive waste water from the Fukushima Disaster into the ocean. This event was the culmination of planning and research since 2019 by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Association in cooperation with Japanese scientists, researchers, and government officials to find a way to move this treated wastewater, as the massive tanks holding much of this radioactive water have lost most of their capacity to continue doing so.

Though some experts have commented that the amount of radiation that will be released into the ocean will be minimal with “negligible effects” on people and marine life, China has been quick to condemn Japan in its efforts to release this treated wastewater, labeling Japan’s action as an “extremely selfish and irresponsible act that disregards the international public interest.” Furthermore, the same Thursday that Japan started to release its wastewater, China’s customs agency issued a ban on any aquatic products, namely seafood, being imported from at least 10 of Japan’s prefectures.

With such quick and unrelenting measures being taken by the Chinese government, concerns from Chinese citizens have also begun to rise, as many have taken to Chinese social media platforms, like Weibo, to express their concerns. Both on and off-line, criticism towards the Japanese government and citizens has slowly increased, as calls for boycotting other Japanese products have grown. Though less common, other acts ensuing out of anger have emerged, such as a reported incident of stones being thrown in a Japanese school in China, though no students were harmed. Within Japan, both governmental and non-governmental entities have been receiving harassment from phone calls by many angered at this wastewater release plan. This has prompted the Japanese foreign ministry to urge China to protect the rights of Japanese citizens in Mainland China at all costs.

As the relationship between the two countries has begun to strain, the question of legitimacy on China’s part has risen: is it fair for China to make the argument that Japan is out of line, while also contributing to the deterioration of the environment? After all, China’s own Fuqing nuclear plant was reported to have released radioactive waste in liquid form in 2020.

Thus, uncertainty has sparked over the past few days as some have started to doubt whether or not this is actually an issue of concern for the oceans and environment. China and Japan’s rocky history could partly explain China’s actions. In 2012, Japan nationalized a group of islands in the East China Sea, which were claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing. This event provoked protests all across China, as many cried for boycotts of Japanese goods in China, with eventually some of these protests turning violent, harming Japanese businesses and generating overall anti-Japanese sentiment. With this history, and previous tensions predating 2012, China’s ban could very well mean that the issue at hand is just another way for China to find a way to exert power over Japan.

In its current state, Japan is focusing on trying to use diplomatic means to get China to overturn its ban. With officials such as Japan’s prime minister urging the Chinese government to change their policy, and other figures such as mayors trying to find ways to keep their seafood sectors sailing smoothly with the absence of a Chinese export market, Japan has yet to give up. Yet, with China’s track record, it seems that they are also reluctant to give up, and will continue in supporting their ban. It is imperative that both countries find a way to meet in the middle; if both continue on the current route, the chances for escalation in tensions is very likely, and a return to the relationship they had in 2012 can materialize faster than imagined.

Written by Special Projects Intern, Noor Razmdideh

The Great Pharaoh of China and the Struggle to Let the Uyghur People Go

July 20, 2023 World Affairs Council Blog, China

Picture this: it’s 2:30 a.m. You, your spouse, children, and newly adopted dog are sound asleep. Out of nowhere, you’re awoken by the sound and the fury of banging at your door. Doorbells don’t exist yet because it’s 1939. You only speak Polish, and four men dressed in military fatigues brandishing SS insignia who only speak German scream at you, barge into your home and forcefully relocate you to what appears to be a prison. You’re forced into a shower room with 100 other men, the tinge of a noxious smell hits your olfactory perception, and that is the last thing you ever feel. What did you do wrong, you wonder in your last moments. It turns out it was nothing more than the mezuzah on your door frame that gave you away. Sound familiar? This is what happened to over 6 million Jews during the Holocaust between 1939-45.

Close to a century later, a similar scenario is playing out in a largely unknown part of the world to a largely unknown group of people. Who are the Uyghurs, you may wonder. They are a minority Sunni Muslim group of Turkic origin totaling a global population of 11-12 million, primarily living in Xinjiang, China. Xinjiang is the most Northwestern province of China known for its austere environment and, contemporarily, the location of modern-day debatable genocide. But to understand what’s happening in Xinjiang, we must go back about 70 years.

After the defeat of the Kuomintang by Mao Zedong and the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the People’s Republic of China was established. However, the “People” in the title can be a little misleading. According to recent data, Statista shows that 89.43% of China is Han Chinese, with the remaining number being minority groups. Moreover, World Population Review estimates the current Chinese population is 1.425 billion people. This amounts to the Uyghur people accounting for only .772% of the Chinese population.

This means that the “People” in the People’s Republic of China belong to the Han Chinese people, with all outsiders being seen as a nuisance, burden, and unnecessary, much like the Jews in Nazi Germany. In the early 90s, with more and more Han Chinese settling in Xinjiang, a historically inhabited land by the Uyghurs, this naturally led to civil strife. Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at Stanford, details how the situation reached a boiling point in the 21^st century. Beginning in the late 2000s, numerous terrorist attacks, mass killings, riots, and protests erupted in Xinjiang, resulting in the deaths of large numbers of Han Chinese. In 2014, China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, the supreme despot of China, launched his “Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism,” essentially turning Xinjiang into a police state ruled by a Gestapo-like group of what Mao would have labeled the Red Guards. Under this anti-terrorism campaign, many traditional Muslim traditions, including praying, were outlawed. Contemporaneously, the Xi regime began building large numbers of concentration camp-like facilities in Xinjiang and started imprisoning large numbers of minority Uyghurs.

China acknowledges the presence of these camps yet labels them “reeducation” camps aimed at reforming would-be terrorists into model Communists. According to numerous sources ranging from scholars Lindsay Maizland, writer for the Council on Foreign Relations, IGOs and NGOs, to include major institutions such as the UN and Amnesty International, and prominent journalists, including Philip Wen and Olzhas Auyezov of Reuters, one thing is for sure: A genocide is brewing in Xinjiang, China. According to all the previously mentioned sources, it is estimated that between 800,00 to 2,000,000 Uyghur people have been illegally imprisoned in the 385 detention facilities currently located in Xinjiang. Within the confines of these detention facilities, it has been reported that brutalities such as torture, forced sterilization, forced labor, and forced indoctrination into Chinese Communist ideology are commonplace^,. The most challenging part, however, is proving it. Like George Orwell’s 1984, Xinjiang is one of the most Big Brother-like, heavily policed regions in the world. Xinjiang is also extremely austere, situated in a highly isolated and landlocked region of Asia largely inaccessible to the media. Moreover, China has severe restrictions on freedom of the press and access to social media and the internet, making it nearly impossible for local people to report the truth.

What is occurring in Xinjiang today parallels almost perfectly with what occurred in 1932 in Germany, with the death of Von Hindenburg and the rise of The Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. After the Great Depression, Adolf Hitler made great strides in recovering from the Depression through significant infrastructure projects (such as the Autobahn) and rebuilding the Wehrmacht (the German military). This came at the cost of seeking a scapegoat onto which to project society’s woes, in the former case, the Jews. Once Germany maintained its hegemonic status in continental Europe, it simply attempted to rid society of the scapegoat. Today, with the rise of the People’s Republic of China like a Phoenix from the ashes and the supreme leadership of Xi Jinping as the ultimate leader of the Chinese Communist Party, China too has its scapegoat onto which to cast its Mein Kampf-like ideologies. According to the Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, China ranks second in the world in comprehensive power and first globally in economic relationships and diplomatic influence. In simpler terms, China, with its global political influence, economic strength, and military prowess, will sooner rather than later reach and even overtake the U.S.’s hegemony on the world stage. Once this occurs, and China is given carte blanche to do anything that it feels. Through simple historical precedent, the Uyghur people will become yet another statistic in the Guinness World Record Genocide Fact Book.

Resolving this conflict diplomatically is the equivalent of asking Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, or Jefferson Davis to stop being mean to your minority populations. A hyper-extreme conservative state like China does not tolerate activists like Martin Luther King Jr or Gandhi. Individuals like them have no voice or ability to petition a draconian communist government with a redress of grievances. Additionally, nation-states with a dominant ethnic population and no significant obstacles preventing them from acting in an anti-social fashion toward minorities tend to engage in the universal art of ethnic cleansing. Saddam did it with the Kurds, the Ottomans with the Armenians, and even the pioneers with Native Americans.

The most realistic option to stymie an impending genocide could be to use whatever IGO, NGO, and Western political influence are left to attempt to relocate the Uyghur people to an ethnically similar, sovereign territory to China’s Northwest. Xinjiang lies on the border with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan (all three being former parts of the Soviet Union, Sunni Muslim, and of Turkic and Persian ethnic origin). According to the CIA World Fact Book, 69.6% of Kazakhstan is ethnically Kazakhy (a Turkic ethnic group) and 70.2% Sunni Muslim. Kyrgyzstan is 73.8% Kyrg (a Turkic ethnic group) and 90% Sunni Muslim. And Tajikistan is 84.3% Tajik (a Persian ethnic group) and 95% Sunni Muslim. The assisted relocation of the Uyghurs would produce what, in science, is called a symbiotic effect. Symbiotic because it would mutually benefit both sides of the conflict. China would benefit by ridding a clearly unwanted ethnic group from its territory and preventing the continuation of ethnic Han and Uyghur clashes in Xinjiang. Conversely, the Uyghur people are saved from impending doom by relocating and inhabiting more friendly lands.

If this (pragmatically realistic) plan were to come to fruition, it would be one of the largest assisted mass migrations in history. Let us only hope that a 21st-century Muslim Moses exists that can help foster such an arduous undertaking and entreat China’s Pharaoh Ramses Jinping to let his people go.

Andrey Volfson is a MS candidate at Northeastern University in the Global Studies & International Relations program.

References:

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, May 30). Uyghur. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Uyghur

China: CCP members by ethnic group 2021. Statista. (2022, July 1). https://www.statista.com/statistics/249994/number-of-chinese-communist-party-ethnic-minority-group-members-in-china/

China Population 2023. China population 2023 (live). (2023). https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/china-population

Economy, E. (2022). The world according to China. Polity.

Maizland, L. (2022, September 22). China’s repression of

Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20people%20who,sterilizations%2C%20among%20other%20rights%20abuses

Map – Australian strategic policy institute. The Xinjiang Data Project. (2021). https://xjdp.aspi.org.au/map/

BBC. (2022, May 24). Who are the Uyghurs and why is China being accused of genocide?. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037

Maizland, L. (2022, September 22). China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights

Wen, P., & Auyezov, O. (2018, November 27). Tracking China’s Muslim Gulag. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/muslims-camps-china/

Central Intelligence Agency. (2023, June 15). Kazakhstan. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/#people-and-society

Central Intelligence Agency. (2023b, June 20). Kyrgyzstan. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kyrgyzstan/#people-and-society

Central Intelligence Agency. (2023c, June 20). Tajikistan. Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tajikistan/#people-and-society

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World

May 25, 2023 WACOC Programs China, Lecture

Joshua Kurlantzick is senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is the author, most recently, of Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign To Influence Asia and the World. Kurlantzick was previously a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he studied Southeast Asian politics and economics and China’s relations with Southeast Asia, including Chinese investment, aid, and diplomacy. Previously, he was a fellow at the University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy and a fellow at the Pacific Council on International Policy. He is currently focused on China’s relations with Southeast Asia, and China’s approach to soft and sharp power, including state-backed media and information efforts and other components of soft and sharp power. He is also working on issues related to the rise of global populism, populism in Asia, and the impact of COVID-19 on illiberal populism and political freedom overall.

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive: China’s Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World is an analysis of how China is attempting to become a media and information superpower, seeking to shape the politics, local media, and information environments of both East Asia and the world. Since China’s ascendancy toward major-power status began in the 1990s, observers have focused on its economic growth and expanding military. China was limited to projecting power through information and media. That has begun to change. Beijing’s state-backed media has been overhauled and expanded. At a time when many democracies’ media outlets are consolidating due to financial pressures, China’s largest state media outlets, like the newswire Xinhua, are modernizing, professionalizing, and expanding in attempt to reach an international audience. Overseas, Beijing attempts to impact local media, civil society, and politics by having Chinese firms buy up local media outlets, expanding China’s social media giants, and controlling the wireless and wired technology through which information flows.

In Beijing’s Global Media Offensive, Joshua Kurlantzick focuses on how this is playing out in both China’s immediate neighborhood—Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand—and the United States. He traces the ways in which China is trying to build an information and influence superpower, but also examines the conventional wisdom that Beijing has enjoyed great success with these efforts. While China has worked hard to build a global media and information superpower, it often has failed to gain from its efforts, and has undermined itself with overly assertive, alienating diplomacy. Still, Kurlantzick contends, China’s media, information and political influence campaigns will continue to expand and adapt, helping Beijing export its political model and protect the ruling Party.

An authoritative account of how this sophisticated and multi-pronged campaign is unfolding, Beijing’s Global Media Offensive provides a new window into China’s attempts to make itself an information superpower.

China’s A4 Protests: The Blank Paper Revolution

December 20, 2022 World Affairs Council Blog, China

China has been in a tumultuous state since the coronavirus pandemic. Strict quarantine enforcement over the course of the last two years have left citizens feeling uneasy and have drawn more attention to human rights issues surrounding the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority within the country. Following an apartment fire at a Uyghur neighborhood in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, where 10 Uyghur residents died, students gathered to hold vigils honoring the victims and protest the government. The fire’s high death count was suspected to have been in part to the strict Covid-19 restrictions that barred the victims in with the fire and slowed rescue attempts.

A popular way students have been protesting while attempting to circumvent Chinese media censorship is through the “blank paper revolution”. Videos of protestors standing in solidarity holding pieces of white A4 paper have gone viral. Criticism of the Communist party government and President Xi Jinping have been mounting alongside the sporadic bursts of activism, and experts are viewing this as a possible turning point in Chinese politics.

Written by Program Management Intern, Cindy Tse

WACOC Annual General Meeting: Will the Global Economy Survive the US-China Trade War?

September 26, 2019 World Affairs Council China, Home, Past Speakers/Events, Slide, Upcoming Events

Annual General Meeting

Will the Global Economy Survive the US-China Trade War?

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019

A Dinner and Lecture Event

with

Professor Gordon Hanson

Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations at UC San Diego

Director of the Center on Global Transformation

Member of the Council on Foreign Relations

Co-Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives

Register Here

The state of the global economy reaches nearly everyone’s well-being and livelihood in some manner. We are all impacted, whether directly or indirectly, by the health of the integrated global economy and, in turn, each nation’s response further impacts the dynamics of the overall performance and strength of that economy. Recent talk of an upcoming recession spurred by threats of growing trade wars, restless populations and forced immigration, trade treaties dissolving, the EU’s challenges to stay in tack, China’s ongoing currency manipulation and threatened retaliations to President Trump’s own warnings, all serve to raise serious concerns on the future of the US economy as well.

The World Affairs Council of Orange County is very pleased to have as its guest speaker Dr. Gordon Hanson Ph.D. He has served as: Director of the Center on Global Transformation, the Pacific Economic Cooperation Chair in International Economic Relations and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. After 20 great years at the University of California, San Diego, Professor Hanson will be joining the Faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. A renowned expert on International Trade and Global Economics, he will share with us his views and predictions on the current and future state of the Global Economy as well as the impact of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies the US and China with imposition of Tariffs as a precedent. Certainly the recent worried talk by many of the economic pundits that we are heading toward a recession merits further discussion and in depth explanation. No one is better situated to address these concerns than our guest speaker Dr Hanson. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technologies MIT, and a BA from Occidental College.

Date:

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019

Time:

Reception/Registration: 5:30 pm

Lecture/Dinner: 6:15 pm

Location:

Pacific Club

4110 MacArthur Blvd, Newport Beach, CA 92660

Price:

Premium Members: $75

General Members: $75

Premium Member Guests: $75

General Member Guests/ Non-Members: $85

Students (with a valid student I.D.): $55

Table of 10: $750 (member rate)

“How Asia is Reacting to a Less Dependable United States & More Assertive China” with Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Daniel Russel

August 16, 2019 World Affairs Council Asia, China, Home, North America, Past Speakers/Events, Slide, Upcoming Events

*Luncheon Event*

“How Asia Is Reacting to A Less Dependable United States & More Assertive China”

with

Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs

Daniel Russel

REGISTER HERE

The Trans-Pacific Partnership might be over, but the continual maneuvering of the United States and China towards the rest of East Asia continues. As the US-China rivalry causes concern in Asia, the response from other countries in the region has created a new dynamic as they adapt to a less dependable America and a stronger, more assertive China.

Daniel Russel served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2013-2017 and as a major figure in the Obama Administration’s “pivot to Asia.” He will be joining us to provide insights on:

*The changing relationship of America and China

*The reaction of other countries in the Asia-Pacific Region and how they are adapting to the dynamics between the two super powers

*How major economic powers such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan view the long-term impact of the changes

* Prospects for the negotiations with North Korea over denuclearization

Daniel Russel served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2013-2017. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Russel was Special Assistant to the President and National Security Senior Staff Director for Asian Affairs. While working at the White House, he was a major figure in the Obama Administration’s “pivot towards Asia” strategy. He also represented the Administration in negotiating with North Korea.

Date: Wednesday, June 5th

Time: 11:30am Reception/ Registration & 12pm Lunch/ Lecture

Location: Prego Mediterranean 2409 Park Ave. Tustin, CA 92782

Prices:

Members : $35

Premium Member Guests: $35

General Member Guests: $50

Non-Members: $50

Students: $20

Bundle of 10 Tickets : $350

Email us at: orangecounty@worldaffairscouncil.org or

Call us at: (949) 253-5751 for more information

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“Independent Filmmaking in Contemporary China” with Professor Paul Pickowicz, Ph.D.

January 26, 2018 World Affairs Council China, Home, Past Speakers/Events, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events

Thursday, April 26th, 2018

“Independent Filmmaking in Contemporary China”

with

Paul Pickowicz, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego

Everyone knows there is state-sector filmmaking in China closely supervised closely by the government. Much of it falls into the propaganda or commercial light entertainment categories. What many people outside China do not know is that non-state-sector independent filmmaking also takes place in China (ever since about 1990).

Independent cinema has shown the unfiltered and at times undesirable aspects of a country keen on perfect displays, and the Chinese government has retaliated with intense regulation. Independent cinema has become a conflict over whom and what ultimately is presented as China. Unlike Western indie films, which seek independence from the dominance of Hollywood’s silver screen, non-state Chinese films have sought independence from the confines of censorship. You won’t see the work on TV, in theaters, or in other state-controlled venues, but it gets made and is circulated in various ways nonetheless. It tends to deal with real social issues and problems that the state sector neglects or avoids.

We are thrilled to have Dr. Paul Pickowicz, one of the country’s leading historians on modern China with 15 books (2 on this subject) to his credit address our Council on this subject. Professor Pickowicz currently serves as Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies as well as Endowed Chair in Modern Chinese History at the University of California, San Diego. A true interdisciplinary scholar, his work has investigated the impact of the Cultural Revolution on Chinese peasants, the history of Chinese cinema, Cold War propaganda strategies, rural protest and Chinese soft-power initiatives. His book “Chinese Village, Socialist State,” was called “by far the best book on the impact of the Chinese Communist Party on peasant life” by The New York Review of Books.

Complete with sample clips from different films, Professor Pickowicz will be discussing what motivates these filmmakers (many of whom he knows), and how their work is received. Join us as we welcome Professor Paul Pickowicz on Thursday, April 26th!

Venue: The Pacific Club

(4110 MacArthur Blvd, Newport Beach, CA 92660)

5:30 PM REGISTRATION/RECEPTION

6:45 PM DINNER

WACOC Member $75

Non-Member $90

Student $50

REGISTER HERE

(If you are interested in sponsoring a student or a table of students (10) which includes dinner, please contact our office at (949) 253-5751 or e-mail us at orangecounty@worldaffairscouncil.org)

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: THURSDAY, APRIL 19TH, 2018

Dietary Restrictions: Please e-mail orangecounty@worldaffairscouncil.org or call our office (949) 253-5751 by Thursday, April 19th, 2018. Accommodations cannot be made after this date.

Refund Policy: Refund requests will not be accepted after the registration deadline. Cancellations must be made no later than the registration deadline.

Paying by Check: Please bring your check to the event and call our office at (949) 253 – 5751 to confirm your reservation before the registration deadline.

“The US and China, Allies or Adversaries in Resolving the North Korean Nuclear Crisis”

June 27, 2017 World Affairs Council China, Home, Past Speakers/Events, Slide, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events

Wednesday, July 12th 2017

Discussion with

Ambassador Christopher Hill

Former Head of the US Delegation to the Six Party Talk on the North Korea Nuclear Issue

Former Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

&

Clayton Dube

Executive Director of USC U.S.- China Institute

“The US and China, Allies or Adversaries in Resolving the North Korean Nuclear Crisis”

Ambassador Christopher Hill is a former career diplomat, a four-time ambassador, nominated by three presidents. Prior to Iraq, Hill served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs during which he was also the head of the U.S. delegation to the Six Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Earlier, he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2004-2005). Ambassador Hill’s last post was as Ambassador to Iraq (April 2009-August 2010) and was also the Special Envoy to Kosovo. He also served as a Special Assistant to the President and a Senior Director on the staff of the National Security Council. Ambassador Hill is the Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, a position he has held since September 2010. In addition to overseeing the Josef Korbel School, Ambassador Hill is author of the book “Outpost: A Diplomat at Work“; a monthly columnist for Project Syndicate; and a highly sought public speaker and voice in the media on international affairs.

Clayton Dube heads the USC U.S.-China Institute, which focuses on the multidimensional and always changing U.S.-China relationship. Dube has earned teachings awards at three universities. Trained as a historian, he first lived in China in 1982-85 and carried out research there in 1989-1991-92. He’s visited another fifty-plus times for research, teaching, and to lead groups of students and teachers. Dube is a director of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and serves on the editorial boards of Education about Asia and the International Review of Chinese Studies. He was previously associate editor of Modern China. Dube has produced several documentary films and consulted on others. The best known of these is the twelve-part Assignment:China series on American media coverage of China since the 1940s.

LOCATION: Orange Hill Restaurant (6410 E Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92869)

TIME: 5:00 PM Private Reception

5:45 PM General Registration/Reception

6:40 PM Dinner/Speaker Program

Private Reception & Dinner $100

Dinner + Program (Private Reception not included) – WACOC Member: $65

Dinner + Ptogram (Private Reception not included) – Non-Member: $80

Dinner + Program (Private Reception not included) – Student: $40

Valet Complimentary

NO SELF – PARKING

REGISTER HERE!

REFUND POLICY:

Refund request will not be accepted after the registration deadline (July 6th)

Cancellations must be made no later than the registration date (July 6th)

“Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means to the World”

November 12, 2015 World Affairs Council China, Home, Past Speakers/Events, Slide, Upcoming Events

Save the Date

November 12, 2015

“Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means to the World”

This program is in partnership with The Chancellor’s Club and Paul Merage Dean’s Leadership Circle

LOCATION: The New Paul Merage School of Business Auditorium
UC Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business SB1, Irvine, CA 92697

6:00PM Lecture and Q&A by Peter Navarro, Ph.D. and Gordon G. Chang
7:00PM Book signing and VIP Reception (with Drinks & Appetizers)

Peter Navarro is a professor at the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. With a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, this distinguished macroeconomist has written extensively on Asia as well as lived and worked there. Peter’s new book Crouching Tiger provides the most complete and accurate assessment of the probability of confl ict between the United States and the rising Asian superpower. Equally important, it lays out an in-depth analysis of the possible pathways to peace. Written like a geopolitical detective story, the narrative encourages reader interaction by starting each chapter with an intriguing question that often challenge conventional wisdom. Advance reviews call it a “a brilliant and clear-head analysis,” a “must read,” and required reading for every 2016 presidential candidate.”

Gordon G. Chang is a lawyer, author, and television pundit, best known for his book The Coming Collapse of China (2001), in which he argued that the hidden nonperforming loans of the “Big Four” Chinese State banks would likely bring down China’s fi nancial system and its communist government and China would collapse in 2006, 2011, 2012. Mr. Chang provided the Forward in Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World.

Business Attire • Complimentary Parking with Reservation
$35 Premium Members | $45 Members | $55 Non-Members
Please RSVP by November 5, 2015 !

For pre-order signed books, visit www.crouchingtiger.net for more information

Driving Directions:
If you are coming from NORTH of Irvine (Los Angeles area): Take the 405 freeway south just past the 55 freeway. Take the Jamboree Road exit. Turn right onto Jamboree Road. Turn left onto Campus Drive. The campus will be a couple of miles ahead on the right.

If you are coming from SOUTH of Irvine (San Diego area): Take the 405 freeway north. Take the Jamboree Road exit. Turn left onto Jamboree Road. Turn left onto Campus Drive. The campus will be a couple of miles ahead on the right.

If you are coming from EAST of Irvine (Riverside area): Take the 91 freeway west to the 55 freeway south. Take the 55 freeway south to the 405 freeway south. Take the Jamboree Road exit. Turn right onto Jamboree Road. Turn left onto Campus Drive. The campus will be a couple of miles ahead on the right.

Parking for Paul Merage School of Business Auditorium:

From Campus Drive (coming east from Jamboree Road noted above), turn right at the light at Stanford to immediately enter the Social Sciences/MPAA Parking Structure.

When walking out of the parking structure toward the campus, from the crosswalk, proceed straight ahead through the double doors at the left end of the building to locate the elevator, stairwell and restrooms.

Building Our Global Community

China

Annual General Meeting

Will the Global Economy Survive the US-China Trade War?

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019

A Dinner and Lecture Event

Professor Gordon Hanson

Date:

Wednesday, September 25th, 2019

Time:

Reception/Registration: 5:30 pm

Lecture/Dinner: 6:15 pm

Location:

Pacific Club

4110 MacArthur Blvd, Newport Beach, CA 92660

Price:

Premium Members: $75

General Members: $75

Premium Member Guests: $75

General Member Guests/ Non-Members: $85

Students (with a valid student I.D.): $55

Table of 10: $750 (member rate)

“How Asia Is Reacting to A Less Dependable United States & More Assertive China”

Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs

Daniel Russel

Thursday, April 26th, 2018

“Independent Filmmaking in Contemporary China”

Paul Pickowicz, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of History and Chinese Studies at the University of California, San Diego

Venue: The Pacific Club

5:30 PM REGISTRATION/RECEPTION

6:45 PM DINNER

WACOC Member $75

Non-Member $90

Student $50

Wednesday, July 12th 2017

Discussion with

Ambassador Christopher Hill

Former Head of the US Delegation to the Six Party Talk on the North Korea Nuclear Issue

Former Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

&

Clayton Dube

Executive Director of USC U.S.- China Institute

“The US and China, Allies or Adversaries in Resolving the North Korean Nuclear Crisis”

“Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means to the World”

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