What’s Wrong With U.S.-China Policy

A recent FP Live featuring Cornell professor and former State Department advisor Jessica Chen Weiss on U.S.-China policy kicked off a lively debate in the subscriber-only comments section. Weiss, who has argued that policymakers are locked in an escalatory spiral, told FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal that the U.S. framework of competition is often counterproductive: “It means we’re frequently reactive… [it] creates more incentives to just get even more hawkish rather than carefully assessing the shape of the challenge.”

In the comments, JIMW, a “frequent business traveler to China in the last 15 years,” noted that “America’s hyperbolic political frenzy is but a firecracker compared to a Chinese New Year’s fireworks display with the effort the CCP is putting into its … propaganda machine against America.” Covell Meyskens, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, would agree. In “China Is Pushing Disengagement With the United States Hard,” Mesykens argued that “seemingly only by quashing Chinese sympathy for the United States do contemporary CCP leaders think they can fulfill their longstanding political mission of overcoming China’s century of humiliation.”

For more on the fraught U.S.-China relationship, be sure to subscribe to James Palmer’s China Brief, which comes direct to your inbox every Wednesday. Read the latest Brief for more on why China has sharpened its anti-American rhetoric.—The editors

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FP Live

Coming up on FP Live this month: Four stellar conversations with leading global experts focused on Russia's war in Ukraine, the repercussions of China’s “two sessions” meetings, and the geopolitical implications of Biden’s budget. Guests include Adm. James Stavridis, Gen. Philip Breedlove, Ryan Hass, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, and FP’s team of reporters. Reserve your spot today. 

This Week: Can Ukraine Win a Protracted War?

March 17 | 12 p.m. EST

More than one year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is far from achieving its war aims and Kyiv continues to vow to fight on. As the war drags on in the Donetsk region, military experts are gaming out what a prolonged conflict might look like.

How long can the two sides last? What can the world do to shape the war’s outcome?

For answers, FP’s Ravi Agrawal will sit down with retired four-star U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who led U.S. forces in Europe and served as NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe from 2013 to 2016.

Register here.

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In Conversation

Last week, FP hosted a special live Twitter Spaces conversation with John D. Sutter, Heat of the Moment podcast host, and Katharine Wilkinson, one of the world’s foremost activists on climate change and a leader of the All We Can Save Project. The theme of HOTM Season 3 was “A Just Transition.” This means weaning off of fossil fuels while taking into account the communities that are impacted by the transition to sustainable practices the most. Sutter and Wilkinson discussed how we can help mitigate the climate crisis as well as the intersections between women and the climate movement. You can listen to the official recording and read our Twitter thread recapping the conversation here. 

Some highlights from Wilkinson:

“Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier.’ ... As climate impacts hit, we see women and girls face greater displacement and death from extreme weather events.”

"From the local level to the national level, when women are present in climate decision-making and climate leadership, the outcomes for the planet are better.”

More from FP Podcasts: At present, the high seas are wildly unregulated. But a historic oceans treaty will put new protections in place. Coming up on this season of The Catch, we head to the upper Gulf of California, to see what a porpoise, a fish whose bladder fetches tens of thousands of dollars on the black market, and the highly desirable—and delicious—colossal shrimp tell us about the dark underside of fishing. Catch up on Season 1 wherever you listen to podcasts and look out for new episodes this spring.

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