Student blogger Amanda Walencewicz (Certificate '20) describes the Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s CHINA Town Hall event, which she helped organize in October in conjunction with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
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| The audience in Kuang Yaming Auditorium watches the CHINA Town Hall national webcast. |
In October, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC) hosted its first iteration of CHINA Town Hall, a program run by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. The National Committee is a nonprofit American organization dedicated to constructive engagement within the bilateral relationship, and CHINA Town Hall is one of its flagship programs. Now in its thirteenth year, the program consists of two parts: a live, national webcast with a well-known China expert; and local events held throughout the United States and China that provide a forum for community discussion.
This year, owing to the current political climate and challenges in the bilateral relationship, the National Committee decided to modify the webcast into a panel discussion moderated by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Representing a variety of views on China, the panel featured Melanie Hart, senior fellow and director for China policy at the Center for American Progress; Huang Yasheng, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management at MIT's Sloan School of Management; Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee; and Ely Ratner, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security.
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| Professor Feng Chuan gives his view of the current trade war between the U.S. and China. |
Following the hour-long broadcast of their discussion, touching on all the current hot-button issues in the bilateral relationship, HNC convened its own panel of four HNC and Nanjing University professors. The bilingual discussion was led by HNC American Co-director Adam Webb, alongside professors David Arase, Feng Chuan, and Liu Woyu. After giving their impressions of the current state of the U.S.-China relationship, the professors fielded questions from the audience, on topics like Huawei and its ability to participate in the global economy, the protests in Hong Kong, and the situation in Xinjiang. For HNC student Joe Bauer, the event was “a good opportunity to hear our professors’ views on U.S.-China issues. We don’t always get the chance to ask about these topics in class, or hear professors’ personal opinions, so I liked that aspect of it.”
Written by Amanda Walencewicz, HNC Certificate '20
