USA versus Kina under Trump: Partnere eller rivaler…

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form no later than Sunday 18 June 2017 at 12.00 noon. Livestream does not require registration.

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No bilateral relationship is more critical to international order than that between China and the United States. They are by far the two largest economies in the world, as well as its two biggest military spenders.

China and the United States seem to be in a league of their own on the international stage, but rather than forming an axis of stability, Beijing and Washington have in recent years often found themselves at loggerheads over bilateral trade, the South China Sea or human rights issues.

Given Trump’s harsh China-bashing rhetoric during his campaign, a complete meltdown of US-China relations appeared to be a likely scenario once Trump took over the Oval Office.

After a rocky start, however, the first summit between Xi and Trump in April in Mar-a-Lago has seemingly been instrumental in putting bilateral relations back on track with the two leaders setting up a new institutionalized dialogue for how to manage difficult bilateral issues.

Still, it probably takes far more to dispel the widespread notion that relations between Washington and Beijing are generally fraught with tension and instability.

At this DIIS seminar Bonnie Glaser, one of the leading experts on US-China relations, takes stock of the current state of bilateral relations five months into Donald Trump’s presidency.

Focusing primarily on the strategic dimension of US-China relations, the seminar offers a preliminary assessment of how the Trump administration has engaged Asia in general, and China in particular.

For instance, to what extent does Trump’s foreign policy line so far constitute a break with Obama’s strategic “Pivot/Rebalance to Asia”?

Furthermore, the seminar takes a closer look at some of the central areas of strategic engagement between Washington and Beijing in recent years, including the volatile geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula and the clash of great power interests in the South China Sea.

Against this backdrop, the seminar asks whether the past decade’s emerging great power rivalry between Washington and Beijing is likely to further materialize with Trump in the White House, or if he and his administration can manage to turn the tide in time.

Speakers

Bonnie Glaser, Senior Advisor for Asia and Director of the China Power Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington

Andreas Bøje Forsby, Researcher, PhD, DIIS 

Programme

15.00-15.10

Introduction

Andreas Bøje Forsby

15.10-15.55

US-China relations under Trump

Bonnie Glaser

15.55-17.00

Q&A

Moderator: Andreas Bøje Forsby

Practical information

The seminar will be conducted in English and livestreamed on diis.dk