Is America’s China Policy Too Hawkish?

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There’s a rare bipartisan consensus in Washington that China’s rise must be countered in the strongest way possible. Democrats and Republicans seemingly compete over who can be tougher on Beijing.

The problem with the tone of the current debate, according to Cornell University professor and former State Department advisor Jessica Chen Weiss, is that policymakers are locked in an escalatory spiral. Anyone who seeks to diverge from the consensus is accused of having sympathy for the other side.

Watch FP’s Ravi Agrawal frank discussion with Weiss or read a condensed transcript of the interview. 

 

 

Why Jessica Chen Weiss, a Cornell University professor and former State Department official under the Biden administration, is worried about America’s China policy.

How does Jessica Chen Weiss push back against China scholars who claim there isn’t a basis for cooperation with China because there’s no evidence Beijing wants to reciprocate?

Jessica Chen Weiss on what other large countries such as India, Indonesia, or Nigeria think about the U.S.-China relationship right now.

Jessica Chen Weiss

Professor, Cornell University & Nonresident senior fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis

Jessica Chen Weiss is a professor of government at Cornell University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. From August 2021 to July 2022, she served as a senior advisor to the secretary’s policy planning staff at the U.S. State Department. 

 

Host

Ravi Agrawal

Editor in chief, Foreign Policy

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He has shared a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work as a TV producer, and his writing for FP was part of a series nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University. 

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