Episode 50: EP50 - 'Silence on Human Rights: Economic Coercion by China and Deterrence from Criticism' with Stephanie Char
Abstract: Why do states decide to criticize come countries, but not others, over domestic human rights abuses? States often criticize rights violations abroad to improve human rights or bolster their own legitimacy, while refraining from criticizing allies. States can also be deterred from criticism by countercriticism coercion, or economic sanctions in response to criticism. I theorize that states are more likely to be deterred from criticizing countries with a reputation for countercriticism coercion, notably China. States learn from other countries’ past responses to criticism, rather than their economic power, stated positions on human rights, or domestic policies. UN member states are less likely to criticize rights violations in countries with reputations for countercriticism coercion. Elite interviews demonstrate how China’s reputation for countercriticism coercion deterred Indonesia and Malaysia from criticizing China over human rights in Xinjiang. This study has implications for the effectiveness of sanctions and resilience of international human rights norms.
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Episode 49: 'Chinese Encounters With America: Journeys That Shaped the Future of China' with Deborah Davis and Terry Lautz, Co-editors and Authors
"Chinese Encounters With America," published by Columbia University Press, tells the stories of twelve women and men whose experiences with the United States not only transformed their own lives but also influenced China’s quest to become a modern global nation. Their professions range from diplomacy, business, and science to music, sports, and civil society. Their lives show how Chinese citizens have interpreted and engaged with America, especially since the opening of relations in the 1970s. At a time when Chinese and American relations are dominated by competition and conflict, this book speaks to the value of shared interests and values.
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Episode 47: EP47 - Yun Sun - 05.05.2025 - China’s Trump Strategy with Yun Sun
Abstract: In the months since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November, policymakers in Beijing have been looking to the next four years of U.S.-Chinese relations with trepidation. Beijing has been expecting the Trump administration to pursue tough policies toward China, potentially escalating the two countries’ trade war, tech war, and confrontation over Taiwan. The prevailing wisdom is that China must prepare for storms ahead in its dealings with the United States. As we approach the symbolic measure of the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, what Trump disruptions are Beijing taking advantage of to advance their own aims? Does the escalating tariff war change that calculus?
Bio: Yun Sun is a Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes. From 2011 to early 2014, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, jointly appointed by the Foreign Policy Program and the Global Development Program, where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to 2011, Yun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group based in Beijing, specializing on China’s foreign policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Prior to ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, DC for five years. Yun earned her master’s degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as well as an MA in Asia Pacific studies and a BA in international relations from Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.
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Episode 46: EP46 - The Art of State Persuasion - China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes featuring author, Dr. Frances Yaping Wang.
Abstract: Why do nations actively publicize previously overlooked disputes, and why does domestic mobilization sometimes fail to lead to aggressive policy? The Art of State Persuasion explores China’s strategic use of state propaganda during crises, revealing why certain disputes are amplified while others are downplayed. This variation depends on the alignment, or lack thereof, between Chinese state policy and public opinion. When public sentiment is more moderate than the government’s foreign policy objectives, a “mobilization campaign” is initiated. Conversely, when public opinion is more hawkish, a “pacification campaign” is deployed to mollify public sentiment.
Bio: Frances Yaping Wang is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colgate University. She was previously an Assistant Professor at the Singapore Management University, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s International Security Center, a Minerva-United State Institute of Peace Scholar, a predoctoral fellow at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies of the George Washington University, and a senior editor at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She received her PhD from the University of Virginia.
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Episode 44: Politics and Law in Maritime East Asia - a conversation with Peter Dutton
Peter Dutton will discuss recent political, legal, and operational dynamics in the South China Sea and around the island of Taiwan. Issues discussed will include, what is the nature of the South China Sea disputes? How is China pursuing its interests? What are some of China’s motivations? What kind of maritime order does China want? And why? What roles do politics and law play in the different narratives about Taiwan? What are some of the possible resolutions to these serious and challenging disputes?
The Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program, was founded in 2004 and and seeks to integrate an advanced study of China's foreign relations into international affairs, politics, economics, regional studies, IPE, IR, Policy, etc.
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