U.S. Foreign Policy Towards a Rising Asia: A Conversation with Senator Chuck Hagel
During this time of global financial uncertainty and political change in the United States, America can capitalize on its opportunities in the rising Asia-Pacific region. United States Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) will discuss these opportunities in this region and how the US can proceed. Senator Hagel has served as senior member of the Senate Foreign […]
Enforcing China’s Environmental Law: Options, Experience, and Prospects
The legal framework for environmental regulation in China has made progress, but—as with much of Chinese legal reform—the proof is in the pudding, and at issue is enforcement of the law. But enforcement is difficult to observe, as it takes place daily in courts across the country. Jerome Cohen, Benjamin Von Rooij, Zhang Jingjing, and […]
Covering the Cultural Revolution: A Conversation with John Burns
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner John Burns has been a foreign correspondent in Peking, Toronto, Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Johannesburg. He discusses his time based in Beijing from 1971 to 1975, during which he covered China’s Cultural Revolution as well as the life and politics of mainland China. He is joined by Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross […]
Can Asia Weather the Storm of the Global Financial Crisis?
In light of the current financial crisis, Asia’s economy is suffering too. Haruhiko Kuroda, Asian Development Bank President, discusses Asia’s economic development in light of the current financial crisis, fluctuations in commodity prices, and the environmental challenges that the region currently faces. Prior to his appointment as President of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda […]
Iran Foreign Minister: U.S. Must Change Policy to Improve Ties
The Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki invites the future US administration to reach out to the Middle East and accept his country’s nuclear program. Ambassador Frank G. Wisner, Vice Chairman of External Affairs at the American International Group moderates this conversation with the Iran Foreign Minister on finding a new approach to their troubled relationship. […]
Art and China’s Revolution: Curator’s Talk by Zheng Shengtian
Go inside China’s revolution with a renowned artist who worked during the period. Join Zheng Shengtian, the co-curator of “Art and China’s Revolution,” an exhibition up at the Asia Society until January 2009. Melissa Chiu, Director, Asia Society Museum talks with Zheng about the context for the exhibition, including his personal experiences and insights into […]
Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis
When George Bush took office in 2001, North Korea’s nuclear program was frozen. Kim Jong-Il had signaled to the outgoing Clinton administration he was ready to negotiate an end to his missile program. Today, North Korea has become a full-fledged nuclear power, with enough fissile material to stage an underground test in 2006 and manufacture […]
The Economist Covers China: Earthquakes, Demonstrations and the Beijing Olympics
James Miles, Beijing Bureau Chief for The Economist, joins Orville Schell, Director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, to discuss his experience covering China for 15 years beginning in 1986. Most recently, Miles was the only Western journalist in Lhasa during the March 2008 protests. He describes the changes he sees […]
China’s Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges
When Beijing first sought to host the Olympics, China was still recovering from the upheavals of Maoist rule and adapting to a market revolution. Today, in a time of rapid transition in China, human rights have emerged as a central concern around the 2008 Beijing Olympics. How are China’s leaders managing the Olympic process and […]
Burma’s Agony: The International Humanitarian Response
On May 2 and 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated large swathes of Burma, leaving more than 134,000 people dead or missing. Offers of assistance from the international community poured in immediately, but Burmese military leaders largely barred foreign aid workers from reaching the hardest hit areas for three weeks, at which point workers were allowed […]
