AFPC Takes Rising Experts to China

Related Categories: Democracy and Governance; Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues; International Economics and Trade; China; India; South Asia; Southeast Asia
Related Expert: Jeff Smith, Richard M. Harrison

From November 16 - 21, AFPC organized a delegation of rising U.S. experts and scholars specializing in Asian studies for a visit to the China. The delegation visited Beijing and Kunming in China’s Yunnan province for briefings and meetings with Chinese military and government officials, analysts, and academics.

The group was jointly led by AFPC Director of South Asia Programs Jeff M. Smith and Daniel Hartnett, a Research Scientist at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Center for Naval Analysis’ China Studies Division.Other delegation members included AFPC Director of Operations and Defense Technology programs Richard Harrison; National Defense University’s (NDU) Near East South Asia Center Analyst Jeffrey Payne; Vice President for Special Projects at Gingrich Productions Vincent Haley; Research and editorial assistant at the Bipartisan Policy Center Pratik Chougule; Doctoral student in International History at Yale University Cindy Ewing; and, Managing Director of the Conservative Action Project Wesley Goodman.

In visits to Beijing and Kunming, AFPC delegates met with top political and national security officials in the Communist Party of China, representatives of the People’s Liberation Army at China’s National Defense University, academics and graduate students at Tsinghua University, representatives from the Chinese media, and top think tanks linked to China’s national security establishment.  The meetings covered a wide range of topics, such as U.S.-China relations, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Japan-China relations, domestic politics in China and the U.S., security developments in South Asia, and freedom of religion, among others.