Kissinger Institute

Stape Roy: "Managing the strategic rivalry" is key as China erodes US traditional military dominance and asserts additional economic market dominance

Stape Roy: "Talking about the Cold War mentality obscures the areas we have to cooperate with each other"

Yun Sun: "The rhetoric and narrative of hostile mentality has always existed whenever there were problems between the US and China. In China today, they realize Trump's rhetoric has put China in a difficult position. "

Sun: "But on the issue of a new Cold War the Chinese want people to know it takes two sides to fight a Cold War. "

Robert Daly: "Americans and Chinese are not alienated from each other even remotely. You can tell this from the trade relationship and cooperative educational relationships throughout the United States and China"

Daly: "There are some worrisome signs that each side would want to set up blocks, but there's also been a great deal of pushback against soft power- against Trumpism and Xi-ism" over past year. Other nations' interests are constraining soft power development"

Daly on future framing Amb. John Bolton's recent Africa remarks as a counter to China: "First, this is bad Africa policy and implies a desire to set up blocks" against China

@MeredithOyen : " It's interesting that one of the reasons we have a manageable long-term relationship is movement of Chinese students coming to the U.S. But a lot of developments this year are troubling"- talk of student visas from Chinese students , one year visas in tech, etc

Oyen: "Confucius institutes and scholar organizations have come under increased scrutiny as influence activities," notes important questions to be asked about Chinese money but "some of these questions can get easily overblown"

Oyen: suspicion "richocheting out from reports on Chinese influence there are ways where there can be new kinds of suspicion of Chinese in the United States, and this does not bolster a strong and necessary foundation in the Sino-American relationship"

Daly notes Xi Jinping characterizing ovrerseas Chinese as "once Chinese, always Chinese" which have stoked concerns on United Front work. "But the danger of it being overblown is clear"

Yun Sun believes student visas, tuition "creates pressure in China about concerns on coming to the United States as a student. "

Sun: "But overall if you compare the openness of the American academia environment and how the government treats foreign students and scholars with China, the difference is still pretty distinct""

Amb. Roy on US soft power pressures on Chinese governence: "[Secretaries] Albright and Clinton referred to the US desire for a more representative government in China. I don't think you can repress Americans expressing that view"

Amb. Roy: "We're highly limited in terms of what we can do in terms of direct influence in changing the nature of governance in other countries. But when we set a standard on governance that other countries see as better than their own," subsequent outcome can have larger impact

Amb. Roy: "China has allowed the penetration of Western ideas for decades" but Xi Jinping characterized ideological problem in 19th party Congress address, identifies "western ideas" as subverting Chinese political ideology

Yun Sun contextualizing Xi's unilateral actions on changing China's national identity: "Under Hu Jintao, there was also brewing nationalism to advocate for higher international status for China." Notes past complaints that "China was becoming rich, but not respected"

@katiestallard : "Ambassador Roy, what would 1970s Stapleton Roy make of the situation now?"

Amb. Roy: "I would be stunned to see China today based on the China I lived in in the 1970s." Institutional nature of political system remained consistent, but constraints of travel, economic identity was different