China and Global Governance

China’s status as the world’s second-largest economic power has led to members of the international community expecting China to contribute more to joint international endeavors and shoulder international responsibilities. How will China’s new leaders continue or diverge from previous Chinese policies with respect to global governance? How will they react to international expectations? How does China envision the nature of global governance and what responsibilities does China expect from the international community? Do China’s national interests and pursuit of a “harmonious world” via multilateralism comport with other actors’ visions of international order?

China and the ASEAN

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the surrounding region are a new and evolving area of competition between China and the United States. Economic, political, and security issues have simultaneously emerged, including the political changes in Myanmar, China’s territorial disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines, and rising security tensions in the South China Sea. At the same time, China also seeks to increase its economic cooperation with the ASEAN countries, including at the East Asia Summit. This session will examine how China’s new leadership will manage tensions between impulses toward economic cooperation and sovereignty disputes in China’s relations with ASEAN countries.

China and the Two Koreas

Given China’s close political and economic ties to both North and South Korea, this panel will address how China’s new leadership will manage China’s relations with the two Koreas and their implications for Northeast Asia. Through which policies does China’s new leadership envision making a contribution to the maintenance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula? How will the new Chinese leadership build a relationship with Kim Jung-un’s regime? How will Beijing manage South Korean expectations of China’s role on the Korean Peninsula? How might China work with the international community to balance relations between the two Koreas and regional actors? How will China’s relations with the two Korea’s influence China’s relations with the United States and other nations in the region?