CHINA Town Hall

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Join 80+ communities across the United States in a national conversation on China! China’s rapid development and Sino-American relations have a direct impact on the lives of just about everyone in the United States. CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections is a national day of programming designed to provide Americans across the United States and beyond the opportunity to discuss issues in the relationship with leading experts.

This year’s program will feature an interactive webcast with Ambassador Susan Rice and on-site discussion with Dr. Mercy Kuo on “US–China Relations in the Trump Era: What Is Washington State’s China Strategy?”

Interactive Webcast @ 4:00 p.m.
Dr. Susan E. Rice
Former National Security Advisor and US Ambassador to the UN

Check back in early November for information about viewing Ambassador Rice’s presentation online.

Ambassador Susan E. Rice served President Barack Obama as national security advisor and US permanent representative to the United Nations. In her role as national security advisor from July 1, 2013, to January 20, 2017, Ambassador Rice led the National Security Council staff and chaired the Cabinet-level National Security Principals Committee. She provided the president daily national security briefings and was responsible for coordinating the formulation and implementation of all aspects of the administration’s foreign and national security policy, intelligence, and military efforts.

As US permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) and a member of President Obama’s cabinet, Ambassador Rice worked to advance US interests, defend universal values, strengthen the world’s security and prosperity, and promote respect for human rights. In a world of 21st-century threats that pay no heed to borders, Ambassador Rice helped rebuild an effective basis for international cooperation that strengthened the United States’ ability to achieve its foreign policy objectives and made the American people safer.

Ambassador Rice served as US assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1997 to 2001. In that role, she formulated and implemented US policy towards 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and oversaw the management of 43 U.S. embassies and more than 5,000 US and local employees. Ambassador Rice was co-recipient of the White House’s 2000 Samuel Nelson Drew Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to the formation of peaceful, cooperative relationships between states.

From 1993 to 1997, she served as special assistant to President William J. Clinton and senior director for African Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House, as well as director for international organizations and peacekeeping on the National Security Council staff. From 2002 to 2008, she was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she conducted research and published widely on U.S. foreign policy, transnational security threats, weak states, global poverty, and development. She began her career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in Toronto, Canada. She has served on numerous boards, including the Bureau of National Affairs, the National Democratic Institute, and the US Fund for UNICEF.

Ambassador Rice received her master’s degree (M.Phil.) and Ph.D. (D.Phil.) in international relations from New College, Oxford University, England, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She was awarded the Chatham House–British International Studies Association prize for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom in the field of international relations in 1990. Ambassador Rice received her B.A. in history with honors from Stanford University in 1986, where she was awarded junior Phi Beta Kappa and was a Truman Scholar. In 2017, French President Francois Hollande presented Ambassador Rice with the Award of Commander, the Legion of Honor of France, for her contributions to Franco-American relations.

Local Presentation @ 4:45 p.m.
Dr. Mercy Kuo
President and Executive Director of the Washington State China Relations Council
“US–China Relations in the Trump Era: What Is Washington State’s China Strategy?”

Mercy A. Kuo is president and executive director of the Washington State China Relations Council in Seattle. She authors a weekly column on US Asia policy at The Diplomat, an international affairs magazine for the Asia Pacific, and is an advisory council member of the Asia Pacific Institute at the American Jewish Committee, advisory board member of CHINADebate, and member of the National Committee on US–China Relations.

Dr. Kuo was formerly managing director and director of research at the Committee of 100, a New York City–based US–China relations leadership organization founded by I.M. Pei and Yo-Yo Ma. Prior to joining C-100, she was senior project director and director of the Southeast Asia Studies and Strategic Asia Programs at the National Bureau of Asian Research, a US-based foreign policy think tank.

From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Kuo served with the Central Intelligence Agency as an Asian affairs analyst specializing in Northeast and Southeast Asian political, security, and military issues. She was the first Chinese American lecturer in the Sinology Department at the University of Warsaw in Poland and a visiting researcher at the Polish Academy of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies.

Dr. Kuo’s academic training and professional research portfolio focus on modern Chinese history, Chinese foreign policy, and Islamic finance in Asia. Dr. Kuo’s China-related publications include:

• Contending with Contradictions: China’s Policy toward Soviet Eastern Europe and the Origins of the Sino-Soviet Split, 1953–1960 (Lexington, 2001)
• “China in the Year 2020: Bridging the Academic–Policy Gap with Scenario-Planning,” Asia Policy, Volume 4 (2007)
• “Defence Policymaking in Strategic Asia,” Handbook of Defence Politics: International and Comparative Perspectives (Routledge, 2008)
• Strategic Asia 2008-09: Challenges and Choices—What the New President Should Know (The National Bureau of Asian Research, 2008)
• “China’s Strategic Orientation: Assessing Alternative Futures,” China in the 21st Century: History, Security, and International Relations (Praeger, 2014)
• “The China Factor in U.S. Foreign Policy,” The Strategy Bridge (April 14, 2016)

She has presented papers at the University of California Berkeley Law School, International Studies Association Annual Conference, and European Consortium for Political Research and contributed expert views on Sinica Podcast, Australian Broadcast Corporation Radio, WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, etc. She is proficient in Chinese, Polish, and Italian.

Dr. Kuo earned a Ph.D. in modern history from Oxford University (St. Antony’s College), an M.A. in Chinese studies from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a B.A. in Asian studies from Pomona College in Claremont, California.

Part of East Meets West — Asia Program Lecture Series
Our fall lecture series features seven public lectures and one documentary exploring the theme of “Resilience” from multiple regional and disciplinary perspectives. All events are free and open to the public. Except as noted, presentations will be held from 4:30–6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays in Todd Hall 276.

• Sept. 5: Film: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs (2013) on the life of Chinese American civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs. Director Grace Lee; producers Grace Lee, Caroline Libresco, and Austin Wilkin. 82 Minutes.
• Sept. 12: “In Our Own Backyard: Japanese Internment during WWII,” Dr. Katy Fry (History)
• Sept. 19: “Patterns of Resilience: An Aesthetics of Chinese Urban Environments,” Dr. David Wang (Architecture)
• Sept. 26: “Mindfulness: East and West,” Dr. Julia Cassaniti (Anthropology) and Dr. Lydia Gerber (Asian Studies)
• Oct. 3: “Community in a Global Migration Crisis: US-Resettled Burmese and Iraqi Refugees,” Dr. Caitlin Bletscher (Center for Transformational Learning and Leadership)
• Oct. 10: “Building Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era,” Dr. Marina Tolmacheva (History)
• Oct. 17: “A Taste of Home: Food as a Form of Diasporic Resilience,” Dr. Shawna Herzog (History)
• Oct. 24: CHINA TOWN HALL | 4:00–5:40 p.m.
  • Interactive Webcast @ 4:00 p.m.
    Dr. Susan E. Rice, former National Security Advisor and US Ambassador to the UN
  • Local Presentation @ 4:45 p.m.
    “US–China Relations in the Trump Era: What Is Washington State’s China Strategy?” Dr. Mercy Kuo, President and Executive Director of the Washington State China Relations Council, Seattle

WSU students may enroll in Asia 301: East Meets West [DIVR] for 1 credit. Participants receive a letter grade and can repeat the class for up to 3 credits. There are no prerequisites.