Great Decisions” 

(2 weeks from today)

“Sino-American Rivalry: A New Cold War?”

“Great Decisions” returns to the Walpole Town Library on Monday, September 16, at 6:00 p.m., with a discussion of U.S.- China rivalry and China’s rise as a trading partner, global power and threat to regional stability. 

Ambassador J. Stapleton (“Stape”) Roy will lead our public forum via Zoom. Ambassador Roy has immersed himself in the study of China throughout his career. A fluent Mandarin-speaker, he rose to become a three-time United States Ambassador, serving in Singapore, the People’s Republic of China, and Indonesia. In 1996, he was promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service. He is now Founding Director Emeritus and a Distinguished Scholar at the Kissinger Institute for Chinese-U.S. Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

China’s economic rise during the past two decades and the increasingly predatory role of the government in the economy has resulted in a rethinking of our economic engagement with China as perhaps a strategic blunder. Should China be viewed as a business opportunity or a national security threat? Or both? Will China invade Taiwan in 2027, as Xi Jinping openly threatens? Is Xi Jinping challenging the USA for global hegemony? There is always the danger that labeling this a “new Cold War” becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The relevant reading from the Foreign Policy Association is “Technology denial and Sino-American rivalry” by Jonathan Chanis, which is available by contacting Library Director Jane Malmberg at jmalmberg@walpoletownlibrary.org 

For the Zoom link to the meeting, please send a request to Jane Malmberg: jmalmberg@walpoletownlibrary.org and join via Zoom at 6:20 p.m. following the Master Class (which cannot be transmitted via Zoom.)

Sue Kibbe