"Daring to Struggle: China in the New U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy" with Bates Gill

On June 21, 2022, NBR held its sixteenth President’s Circle dialogue with our special guest Bates Gill, Professor of Asia-Pacific Security Studies and Chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Gill is also a member of NBR’s Board of Advisors.

NBR President Roy Kamphausen began with an overview of President Biden’s travel to Asia, including his meetings with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk-yeol in Tokyo and Seoul, respectively. Roy also discussed the Biden administration’s efforts to demonstrate its commitment to the Indo-Pacific region in the face of Russian aggression in Eastern Europe through the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the ASEAN Special Summit. Finally, Roy briefed the audience on China’s continuing overtures to the island-nations in the South Pacific, the outcome of Australia’s recent elections, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech on the Biden administration’s approach to competing with China.

In the second half of the event, Dr. Gill introduced his new book Daring to Struggle: China’s Global Ambitions Under Xi Jinping, which examines China’s to the world under Xi Jinping’s leadership. Among other topics, Dr. Gill assessed questions from the audience on recent developments in China, including substandard economic performance reports, zero-Covid lockdowns in Shanghai and Beijing, and shrinking opportunities for foreign businesses.

Dr. Gill joined Roy in the NBR office in Washington, D.C., while the remainder of the audience attended the dialogue virtually, calling in from across the United States and Asia.