Shows
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundThe Future: Student Voices
The topic: As a final wrap-up episode we look back at everything we've heard throughout the series and what the collective wisdom suggests for the future of U.S.-China relations.
Our guests: It's time to give the students more of a voice in this discussion. What have they remembered most from all our conversations with U.S.-China watchers? What are their hopes and fears for this crucial bilateral relationship? The 18 students of Professor David Skidmore's class weigh in with a variety of heartfelt insight.
2021-05-0946 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundPodcasting: Matt Sheehan and Holly HeThe topic: Producing any podcast series is a journey featuring plenty of twists and turns. And producing a series on U.S.-China relations can be especially challenging considering such a vast intertwined history to be addressed, on top of all the modern divergent views, outright disputes, and key players. As we near the end of our own podcast series, “Searching for Common Ground,” Professor David Skidmore and I thought it made sense to compare notes with another duo who recently published their own U.S.-China podcast just over a year ago.
Our guests: ...2021-04-1553 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundBusiness: Kit SpanglerThe topic: Often in this podcast series we focus on the big picture: Taiwan’s relationship to the Mainland, the contrasting strategies of U.S. presidents in tackling trade, or the massive influence of technological expansion. But what about the details of playing out international relations on the ground in China, as a U.S. businessperson with decades of experience? What about a frontline view of the economic and cultural forces shaping the bilateral relationship while simultaneously reflecting its larger themes? What cues can we take from this history of everyday business and other interaction between our two countries th...2021-04-0941 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundBiden and the pandemic: Thomas Wright of BrookingsThe topic: How will--and should--the Biden administration go about fashioning its policies across the range of issues that make up U.S.-China relations? Should we expect major shifts compared to the approach of the Trump presidency? What can we glean from the views and backgrounds of Biden's key advisers? How might domestic politics impact policy-making toward China? Just what sort of challenge does China present to the U.S. and our allies?
Our guest: Thomas Wright is the director of the Center on the United States and Europe and a senior fellow in...2021-03-2048 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundCitizen diplomacy: Kim HeidemannThe topic: U.S.-China relations rest upon more than the formalized chess moves of presidents and diplomats. Far greater in scope and depth are the people-to-people exchanges in business, education, arts and culture, journalism, nonprofits, tourism, and so much more. These societal ties provide ballast for U.S.-China relations even when the political situation is at its most tense. Iowa's people-to-people connections with China are particularly strong and extend back nearly half a century, continuing a tradition in which Iowa also helped to play a moderating force with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold...2021-03-1043 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundTech: Professor Tom Lairson of Rollins CollegeThe topic: Huawei, ZTE, TikTok, WeChat: The list of Chinese high-tech companies that have been characterized as threats to American national security continues to grow. But how real are such purported threats? And are efforts to digitally "decouple" from China realistic? Are there alternative ways to address security concerns?
Our guest: Tom Lairson is emeritus professor of political science and international business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Tom received his doctorate in political science and a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky. He was also the first Ford Foundation professor of...2021-03-0243 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundAgriculture: Bill Niebur, crop scientistThe topic: In the wake of the Trump-era trade war and COVID-19 pandemic, what will become of the heavy ag trade between the world's two superpowers? What are the primary food security concerns for each nation? How do other large international markets such as Brazil affect the relationship? How might the post-pandemic marketplace reshape the dynamic? Is it still possible for agriculture to act as a moderating force on the political relationship between the two nations?
Our guest: Bill Niebur, president and chief operating officer of Hi Fidelity Genetics in Des Moines, is a seed...2021-02-2546 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundSecurity: Professor Zhu Feng of Nanjing UniversityThe topic: As China’s military modernization shifts the balance of power in East Asia, the naval forces of the U.S. and China find themselves facing off in tense encounters across the maritime routes off China’s coastline. How can the dangers of military conflict and escalation be controlled as disputes related to the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and Taiwan play themselves out? What are the roles to be played by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other coalitions? Can a security architecture be constructed that reconciles the core interests of all players?
2021-02-1549 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundPolitics: Professor Ren Junfeng of Fudan UniversityThe topic: How does American politics appear from the perspective of a Chinese scholar? How do Chinese observers process the U.S. electoral system through the prism of China’s own historical and contemporary political development? What are the most important things that Americans and Chinese people misunderstand about politics in the other country?
Our guest: Ren Junfeng is a professor of political science at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Professor Ren specializes in Western political thought and American political history. He has served as visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong, St. Anthony’s Coll...2021-02-1543 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundJournalism: Austin Ramzy of The New York TimesThe topic: Journalists serve as critical intermediaries between American and Chinese societies, reporting and interpreting events for audiences in both countries. Yet China has become an increasingly difficult place for American journalists as Chinese authorities have denied visas, placed restrictions on activities, and leveled criticism at Western media coverage of China. In turn, Chinese journalists have been forced to leave the United States. How do American journalists on the China beat cope with such challenges? How can outsiders gain information about such charged stories as the expanding detention camps in Xinjiang?
Our guest: Austin Ramzy...2021-02-1539 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundSuperpower rivalry: Professor Wu Xinbo of Fudan UniversityThe topic: There's little question that China’s rising power poses new challenges for American foreign policy-makers. But to what purposes does China intend to put its newfound economic and military capabilities? Do Chinese leaders seek to overturn the basic rules and institutions of the existing international order? Do they wish to challenge the global leadership of the United States? A Chinese scholar offers surprising answers.
Our guest: Wu Xinbo is professor and dean of the Institute of International Studies and director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University. He teaches and re...2021-02-1541 min
U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundDiplomacy: Former U.S. Ambassador Terry BranstadThe topic: Former Iowa Governor and U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad has a history of about 40 years with China, most notably his recent service in Beijing where he led negotiations on everything from the trade war to nuclear tensions with North Korea. Branstad’s unique perspective on U.S.-China relations is based on decades of promoting economic, cultural, and civic ties while representing the agricultural state of Iowa. This Iowa farm boy ended up with a career capstone that included high-level negotiations between two superpowers on controversial issues (including national security, human rights, and the pandemic) and close pe...2021-02-1548 minU.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundIntroduction to U.S.-China: Searching for Common GroundDavid Skidmore and Kyle Munson outline a new podcast series intertwined with a Spring 2021 international relations course at Drake University.
Click here for a complete transcript of this episode.
David Skidmore is a Professor of Political Science at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he has taught since 1989. Skidmore’s teaching and research focuses on U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-China relations. During the 1996-97 academic year, he taught at the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. He also served as a Fulbright Scholar based at...2020-12-2815 min