Is it just about business?

Thomas J. Christensen, GSAS'93, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA; Director, China and the World Program

Sharon H. Yuan, Managing Partner and General Counsel, The Asia Group

Host: Adam B. Kushner, CC'03, Outlook editor, Washington Post

Join us for an in-depth unfiltered discussion of current US-China interactions and the outlook of their relations in the future, as our panel of esteemed experts cover major issues such as Trade and Tariffs, IP theft and researchers ethnic profiling, Hong Kong crisis, National Security concerns such as Huawei, Geopolitical frictions such as the South China Sea and the Philippines, and last but not least the origin and effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the Q&A.

Cosponsored by:

• Cal Alumni Club of Washington DC
• Princeton Club of Washington
• Harvard Club of Washington DC
• MIT Club of Washington DC

Panel: 7:30pm to 8:20pm
Q&A: 8:20pm to 8:50pm

100% of proceeds will be donated to Capital Area Food Bank initiative.

Thomas J. Christensen is Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University. He arrived in 2018 from Princeton University where he was William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War, Director of the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program, and faculty director of the Masters of Public Policy Program and the Truman Scholars Program.

From 2006-2008, Professor Christensen served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs with responsibility for relations with China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. His research and teaching focus on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security. His most recent book, The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton) was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review, a “Book of the Week” on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and the Arthur Ross Book Award Silver Medalist for 2016 at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Professor Christensen has also taught at Cornell University and MIT. He received his BA with honors in History from Haverford College, MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and PhD in Political Science from Columbia University. He has served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the National Committee on US-China Relations, as coeditor of the International History and Politics series at Princeton University Press, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Committee for the Schwarzman Scholars Program. He is currently the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Nancy B. Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book Series on the United States in Asia at Columbia University Press. Professor Christensen is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Non-Resident Senior Scholar at the Brookings Institution. He was presented with a Distinguished Public Service Award by the United States Department of State.

Sharon H. Yuan is the Managing Partner and General Counsel at The Asia Group.

Prior to joining The Asia Group, Ms. Yuan served in the U.S. Department of the Treasury as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade and Investment Policy from 2009 to 2015, and concurrently as the Executive Secretary and Senior Coordinator for China Affairs and the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (from 2012 to 2015). In these positions, she helped manage the U.S.-China economic relationship for the Secretary of the Treasury, and oversee the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). While working on the S&ED, she successfully helped to inter alia secure China’s commitment to negotiate the U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) based on a “negative” list approach, as well as conceived and secured China’s agreement to launch multilateral negotiations on official export financing disciplines. In addition, Ms. Yuan served as the Treasury Department’s lead on trade and investment policy, and was responsible for the financial services negotiations in U.S. free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the U.S-China BIT. Additionally, she was responsible for the development of U.S. policy on official export financing, including as it relates to the U.S. Export-Import Bank. In recognition of her contributions and leadership while serving in these positions, Ms. Yuan was awarded The Treasury Medal.

Ms. Yuan served as one of the four U.S. members appointed by President Obama on the roster of arbitrators for the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). She also served on the staff of the National Economic Council in the White House from 1998 to 2000, where she focused on international economic matters, including China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, as well as coordinating U.S. participation in the 2000 G-7/G-8 Okinawa Summit.

Ms. Yuan is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. She received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as the Production Editor on the Virginia Journal of International Law and the Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Weekly. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Yuan is conversant in Mandarin Chinese.

Adam B. Kushner is the editor of Outlook, the Washington Post’s home for ideas, essays, arguments, and book criticism. Previously, he was the editor of National Journal magazine, a senior editor for foreign affairs at Newsweek and a managing editor at the New Republic. He is a New Orleans evangelist and native. Mr. Kushner has a BA in the study of antiquity from Columbia University.