Read a summary of this discussion here.

The third installment of the Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China, featuring Dr. Jonathan D. Pollack of the Brookings Institution's Thornton China Center.

China’s reemergence as a major power has triggered increasingly intense debate in U.S. policy circles about Beijing’s national security strategy. The Trump administration defines China as a revisionist power whose strategic goals, military capabilities, and economic power pose an inherent and growing risk to U.S. security interests that warrant a comprehensive response from the United States.

But has the United States fully and accurately assessed China’s long-term national security goals and the factors contributing to its policies? What are the animating fears underlying U.S. thinking? In what ways is U.S. policy influencing Chinese strategic choices, or is China on a fixed course independent of U.S. actions?

The Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China aims to provide proactive and forward-looking solutions to some of the most complex local, regional, and global issues facing the United States and China today, through regular engagement in debates and discussions with the foremost experts in Chinese affairs. The Edgerton Series is made possible by generous support from the Edgerton Foundation. We thank Dr. Bradford and Ms. Louise Edgerton for their continued support of and dedication to the Pacific Council.

Listen to the full conversation below:

Featuring:

Dr. Jonathan D. Pollack, Nonresident Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution

Jonathan Pollack is a nonresident senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center and Center for East Asia Policy at the Brookings Institution. Between 2012 and 2014, he served as director of the John L. Thornton China Center. Prior to joining Brookings in 2010, he was professor of Asian and Pacific Studies and chairman of the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Pollack’s principal research interests include Chinese national security strategy; U.S.-China relations; U.S. strategy in Asia and the Pacific; Korean politics and foreign policy; Asian international politics; and nuclear weapons and international security. Read more.

Moderator:

Melissa Etehad, Reporter, Los Angeles Times

Melissa Etehad previously worked at Al Jazeera English and the Washington Post’s foreign desk, where she covered the intersections of politics, religion and gender. Read more.