The Sources of Chinese Conduct: Are Washington & Beijing Fighting a New Cold War? - Odd Arne Westad

More than 70 years after George Kennan wrote his famous “Long Telegram” laying out the containment strategy that would define U.S. policy until the end of the Cold War, the United States and its allies again face a communist rival that views the United States as an adversary and is seeking regional dominance and global influence: China. What are the parallels between China today and the Soviet Union of old? What are the differences?
Prof. Westad will explore this and the effect that the past four years of Trump administration policy has had on relationships, not only with China but also with the United States’ allies around the world. Has China outsmarted the U.S.? How can the international system reform and respond to this challenge? Using his September/October 2019 Foreign Affairs article as a starting point, Professor Westad will offer insight and analyses on what the U.S.-China policy is - and what it should be.
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ODD ARNE WESTAD is Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University and the author of "The Cold War: A World History". Originally from Ålesund on the Norwegian coast, he studied history, philosophy, and modern languages in Oslo before doing a graduate degree in U.S./international history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Westad has published 16 books, most of which deal with 20th century Asian and global history. Westad joined the faculty at Yale after teaching at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he was School Professor of International History, and at Harvard University, where he was the S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations. At Yale, he teaches in the History Department and at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Westad is a fellow of the British Academy and of several other national academies, a visiting professor at Peking University, and a research associate of the Harvard Fairbank Center.
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The article Prof. Westad mentioned:
www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...
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ORGANIZERS: A part of the Munich Dialogues on Democracy Speakers Series, a cooperation between The Yale Club of Germany e.V. (Munich Chapter) and Amerikahaus - Bavarian Center for Transatlantic Relations.
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www.dialoguesondemocracy.com/
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[@tusker2418]

Interesting discussion. I discovered Dr. Westad in my research on The Cold War. I thought his prize-winning book was a refreshing analysis of the time period and gave me a different perspective on global history. I don't claim to understand his intentions or to speak for him, but in my reading of his book, I found that I had much more sympathy toward the ideological project of the Soviet Union compared to his description of the US Empire. And the same goes for this discussion regarding China. Dr. Westad seems to have a guiding bias that tilts towards Western countries, but not in a way that heightens geopolitical tensions, which I appreciate. That being said, after listening to this discussion, I find myself being more sympathetic to the Chinese position over the American position. Especially when it comes to Xi Jinping. I personally view Xi as a very capable leader who has the benefit of majority support by the Chinese people. So while the West might be dissatisfied with Xi's leadership, I tend to judge his leadership based off the support of the Chinese people. As an American, I would rather focus my time and effort onto my own political system and failures rather than worrying about China's system. I am, however, absolutely against any type of military effort to counter China. It would be a disaster for the US and China to engage in any kind of military conflict and I am wholeheartedly against it. The death toll of conflict should alone be a reason to avoid it, but the after effects of a global conflict would set humanity back centuries.