Asia Policy Events, Monday August 31, 2026

Asia Policy Point's weekly Asia Policy Calendar returns from summer recess. Thus, only Monday events will be posted here, on our blog, for the rest of the year. If you want to access the full calendar, please subscribe via this LINK.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2026 INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE. 8/31, 9:00-10:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Global Health Policy Center, CSIS. Speakers: J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS; Lloyd Mulenga, Professor of Infectious Diseases, University Teaching Hospital, Zambia; Doris Macharia, President, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Jirair Ratevosian, Research Scholar, Duke Global Health Institute; Omar Sued, HIV Treatment and Care Regional Advisor, Pan American Health Organization.

US-NORTH KOREA REMAINS RECOVERY COOPERATION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 8/31, 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: National Committee on North Korea (NCNK). Speaker: Kelly McKeague, Director, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Asia Policy Events, Monday March 9, 2026

ESCALATION, DETERRENCE, AND IRAN’S STRATEGIC CALCULUS. 3/9, 11:00am-Noon (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: Colby Connelly, Senior Fellow, MEI; Alex Vatanka, Senior Fellow, MEI; Lieutenant General Sam Mundy, USMC (Ret.), Distinguished Military Fellow, MEI. Moderator: Dr. Kenneth M. Pollack, Vice President for Policy, MEI.

IS TRUMP'S WAR IN IRAN JUSTIFIED? A DEBATE. 3/9, Noon (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Policy. Speakers: Matthew Kroenig, Columnist, Foreign Policy, Vice President/Senior Director, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council, Professor, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President, Quincy Institute. Moderator: Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-chief, Foreign Policy.

DEEPLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS AND JAPAN. 3/9, Noon-1:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University. Speaker: Geoffrey G. Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School. Moderator: Christina L. Davis, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Department of Government; Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University.

THE LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PHYSICAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CHINA. 3/9, 1:00-2:30pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: India China Institute. Speaker: Angela Huyue Zhang, Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law.

BOOK TALK: DEPLOYED: A PHYSICIAN ON THE FRONT LINES OF GLOBAL HEALTH. 3/9, 4:00-6:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: author Kevin M. De Cock, Former Director, CDC Kenya, Founding Director, CDC Center for Global Health, Former Director, WHO Department of HIV/AIDS; J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center. PURCHASE BOOK

Asia Policy Events, Monday September 15, 2025

BRUSSELS SPROUTS LIVE: EUROPE WITH LESS U.S.: PREVENTING RUSSIA OPPORTUNISTIC

AGGRESSION IN EUROPE. 9/15, 11:30-12:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Speakers: General (Ret.) Philip Breedlove, Former Commander of U.S. European Command; Former 17th Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations; Admiral (Ret.) James Foggo, Former Commander of the United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa; Former Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples; Moderator: Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Program Director and Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program, CNAS; Jim Townsend, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program, CNAS. 

TAIWAN'S CHINA-FREE DRONE PRODUCTION: SUCCESSES AND CONTINUED CHALLENGES. 9/15, Noon-1:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Global Taiwan Institute. Speakers: Matthew Fulco, Journalist, Aviation Week; Lotta Danielsson, Vice President, US-Taiwan Business Council; Dr. Hong-Lun Tiunn, Deputy Director, National Security Program, Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET). 

SECURING AMERICA’S TECHNOLOGICAL EDGE: A CONVERSATION WITH USPTO ACTING DIRECTOR COKE MORGAN STEWART. 9/15, Noon-1:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce, Intellectual Property, Acting Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office; Adam Mossoff, Chair, Forum for Intellectual Property, Senior Fellow. 

RETHINKING THE PAST OF CONFLICT, IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF PEACE IN EAST ASIA.  9/15, 4:00-7:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Pennsylvania State University Institute for Korean Studies. Speakers: Aiko Utsumi, Professor Emeritus, Keisen University; Takashi Fujitani, University of Toronto; Dongeun Shin, Kangwon National University; Min-Chul Kim, Kyung Hee University; Jae-Jung Suh, International Christian University; Ran Zwigenberg, Pennsylvania State University. 6:00–6:40pm Roundtable Discussion: Dong-Choon Kim (Sungkonghoe University); Lisa Yoneyama University of Toronto,*online); Jan Thompson (ADBC Memorial Society, *online); Hong Kal, (York University, Canada); Inkyu Kang (Penn State); Dae‑yeol Yea (Sunchon National University,*online); Hyun-kuk Sung (PeaceNetwork); Shin Chang; (The Academy of Korean Studies,*online). https://events.la.psu.edu/event/rethinking-the-past/  REGISTRATION.

AFTER THE PANDEMIC: REVISING A TEXTBOOK AND RETHINKING HISTORY. 9/15, 7:00-8:00pm (EDT), 9/16, 8:00-9:30am (JST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Modern Japan History Association. Speaker: Dr. Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University. 9

Monday Asia Policy Events, July 14, 2025

DISINFORMATION & MISINFORMATION: CURRENT HAPPENINGS IN JAPAN, THE U.S. AND BEYOND. 7/14, 6:30-8:00pm (JST), 5:30-7:00am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies, Temple University Japan. Speakers: Matthew Blomberg Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Journalism, Temple University Japan; John W. Cheng Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of International Communication, Aoyamagaukin University. 

CAN A GLOBAL INITIATIVE ON HEALTH TAXES FINANCE DEVELOPMENT? 7/14, 1:30-2:30pm (BST), 8:30-9:30am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for Global Development (CDG). Speakers: Jeremias Paul Jr, Coordinator, Tobacco Control Economics Unit, WHO; N.K. Singh, Former Chairman, Fifteenth Finance Commission of India; Member, Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health; Moderator: Pete Baker, Deputy Director, Global Health Policy Program and Policy Fellow, CGD.

THE TARIFF DEAL: RECIPROCITY, TRADE BALANCE, AND INDUSTRY. 7/14, 10:30-11:30am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Speakers: Wendy Cutler, Vice President and Managing Director of the DC Office, Asia Society Policy Institute; Tami Overby, Partner of Government Relations, DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group; Sarah Ahn, Economic Minister, Embassy of the Republic of Korea; Moderator: Scott Snyder, President and CEO, KEI. 

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 7/14, 10:30-11:30am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Society for International Development, United States Chapter. Speakers: Michael Gubser, Professor of History, James Madison University; Samuel A. Worthington, Author, Prisoners of Hope; Moderator: Anne Simmons-Benton, Co-Head of the U.S. Delegation to the W20 and Principal, Deep Water Point, LLC. 

REIMAGINING EU RESEARCH AND INNOVATION POLICY FOR GLOBAL IMPACT. 7/14, 1:00-2:30pm (CET), 7:00-8:30am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Centre for European Policy Studies. Speakers: Andrea Renda, Director of Research, Centre for European Policy Studies; Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder, GovLab and DataTank; Research Professor, New York University; Lisa Goerlitz, Head, Brussels Office and EU Advocacy, Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung (DSW); Sylvia Schwaag Serger, President, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA); Professor, Lund University; Gunilla Carlsson, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS; Former Minister for International Development Cooperation, Sweden; Antoine Mercier, Science and Technology Counsellor, Permanent Representation of France to the EU; Michiel Scheffer, Principal Adviser; President, EIC Board, DG RTD, European Commission; Rosalind Kenny Birch, Second Secretary for Research and Innovation, UK Mission to the EU. 

REPORT LAUNCH: RUSSIA’S FUTURE RULERS. 7/14, 2:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council. Speakers: Anton Barbashin, Co-founder & Editorial Director, Riddle Russia; Evelyn Farkas, Executive Director, McCain Institute; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, US Department of Defense; Mikhail Zygar, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council; Moderator: Brian Whitmore, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council; Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Texas-Arlington.

Monday Asia Events, April 7, 2025

EVOLVING ISSUES IN REGULATION OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS: A VIEW FROM THE UK AND THE EU. 4/7, 8:00-9:00am (EDT). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Suzanne Rab, Barrister, Matrix Chambers; Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for the Economics of the Internet. 

BRIEFING ON HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE. 4/7, 9:00am (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY, Capitol Hill. Sponsor: American Historical Association. Speakers: Joseph A. McCartin, Georgetown; Margaret Rung, Roosevelt University; Eric S. Yellin, University of Richmond. 

REPORT TALK: STATE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION REPORT 2025 - SUPPORTING PEOPLE IN A TIME OF TRANSITION. 4/7, 10:30-11:30am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: World Bank Group. Speakers: Mamta Murthi, Vice President, People Vice Presidency, World Bank; Mamta Murthi, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Niger; Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Nigeria; Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, Jamele Rigolini, Senior Advisor, Social Protection and Labor, World Bank; Jamele Rigolini, Senior Advisor, Social Protection and Labor, World Bank; Shanta Devarajan, Professor, Practice of International Development, Georgetown. 

A TARIFF DEBATE: WHAT'S NEXT AFTER "LIBERATION DAY"? 4/7, 10:45am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Policy Live. Speakers: Oren Cass, Founder, Chief Economist, American Compass; Kimberly Clausing, Nonresident Senior Fellow, PIIE; Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy. 

IMPOSSIBLE STATE LIVE PODCAST: THE FUTURE OF U.S.-ROK-JAPAN TRILATERAL COOPERATION. 4/7, 11:00-11:45am (EDT). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Korea Chair, CSIS. Speakers: Victor Cha, President, Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair; Michael J. Green, CEO, United States Studies Centre. 

BOOK TALK: THE PRICE OF ZERO: CHINA'S SLOWDOWN AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ASIA. 4/7, Noon (JST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: ICAS, Temple University Japan. Speaker: author Donald Low, Senior Lecturer, Professor of Practice, Public Policy, Director of Leadership and Public Policy, Executive Education, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Contact/RSVP: robert.dujarric@tuj.temple.edu, https://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4ijOH1z

RESEARCH IN RUIN: SLASHING NIH WILL STIFLE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFESAVING MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND HARM THE ECONOMY. 4/7, 1:00-2:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for American Progress. Speakers: Howard P. Forman, M.D., MBA, Professor, Yale University, co-host, Health & Veritas podcast; Michael Z. Lin, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Stanford University; Christian D. Menefee, County Attorney, Harris County, TX; Hardeep Singh, M.D., MPH, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine.  

BOOK TALK: ENTWINED ATROCITIES: NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE. 4/7, 7:00-8:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Modern Japan History Association. Speaker: author Yuki Tanaka, Research Professor Emeritus, Hiroshima City University. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3XJkr7Z

2025 CARNEGIE GLOBAL DIALOGUE: CHINA AND INDIA. 4/7, 8:30-9:30pm (CST); 8:30-9:30am (EDT). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie China. Speakers: Rick Waters, Director, Carnegie China, Maurice R. Greenberg Director’s Chair; Saheb Singh Chadha, Senior Research Analyst, Security Studies Program; Li Li, Senior Research Professor, Tsinghua University; Jabin Thomas Jacob, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University. 

A GRAND BARGAIN BETWEEN THE US AND CHINA? 4/7, 5:30-7:00pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Foreign Policy Research Institute. Speaker: Wu Xinbo, Director, Center for American Studies, Fudan University. 

Asia Policy Events, Tuesday February 18, 2025

Monday, February 17, 2025 is President's Day in the United States, a National Holiday. There will be demonstrations against the Tump Administration throughout the U.S.

YIZHOU, LIUQIU AND TAIWAN IN HISTORY. 2/18, 10:00-11:30am (CET) 4:00-5:30am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Institute for Security and Development Policy. Speakers: Professor Torbjörn Lodén, fmr. Professor, Chinese Language and Culture, Stockholm University; Man-houng Lin,  Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Professor, History, National Taiwan Normal University; Evan Dawley, Associate Professor, History, Goucher College; Agust Börjesson, Acting Head, Stockholm Taiwan Center, Research Fellow, Asia Program, Institute for Security and Development Policy. 

UNPACKING THE AI ACTION SUMMIT: THE FUTURE OF AI GOVERNANCE AND THE GLOBAL DIGITAL COMPACT. 2/18, 8:30-9:45am (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Stimson Center. Speakers: Amb.Chola Milambo, Permanent Representative of Zambia to the UN and Co-Facilitator of the Global Digital Compact; Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office, UNDP; Linda Bonyo, Founder, Lawyer’s Hub and Co-Convenor, AI & Cybertech Governance ImPact Coalition; Allison Pytlak, Senior Fellow and Director of the Cyber Program, Stimson Center; Dr. Richard Ponzio, Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program, Stimson Center and Co-Convenor, AI & Cybertech Governance ImPact Coalition. 

HOW NORTH KOREA MANAGED THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. 2/18, 9:00-10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: National Committee on North Korea. Speaker: Yoonhee Ryder, ENT Resident, University of Michigan Researcher, Korea Health Policy Project; Martyn Williams, Senior Fellow, 38 North, Stimson Center. 

    

BOOK LAUNCH: KING DOLLAR WITH PAUL BLUSTEIN. 1/18, 9:30-10:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: author Paul Blustein, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Economics Program and Scholl Chair in International Business, CSIS. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/40VUSl0 

@100: INDIA’S PATH TOWARDS AN ADVANCED ECONOMY. 2/18, 11:00am-Noon (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for Global Development. Speakers: Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Director, IMF, fmr. Chief Economic Advisor, India; Pravin Krishna, Chung Ju Yung Professor of International Economics, Johns Hopkins. 

THINK TANK FUNDING IN AMERICA. 2/18, Noon–1:00pm (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Speakers: Estefanía Terán Valdez, Director, On Think Tanks; Michael Hartmann, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Strategic Giving, Capital Research Center; Benoît Pelopidas, Founder, Nuclear Knowledges; Nick Cleveland-Stout, Junior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute. 

IN CONVERSATION WITH PHILIPPINE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ENRIQUE A. MANALO. 2/18, Noon–1:00pm (EST), 5:00-6:00pm (BST). HYBRID. Sponsor: Chatham House. Speaker: Enrique A. Manalo, Philippine Secretary for Foreign Affairs; Ben Bland, Director, Asia-Pacific Programme. 

PRESERVING AND ENHANCING OPEN FINANCIAL MARKETS: A CONVERSATION WITH ANDREW BAILEY. 2/18, 10:30–11:15am (CET), 4:30–5:15am (EST). HYBRID. Sponsor: Bruegel. Speakers: Andrew Bailey, Governor, Bank of England; Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Director, Bruegel. 

BOOK TALK: JAPAN RE-EMERGES. 2/18, 4:00-5:00pm (PST) 7:00-9:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Speakers: author Ulrike Schaede, Professor of Japanese Business, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy; Brad Glosserman, Senior Advisor, Pacific Forum, Deputy Director and Visiting Professor, Center for Rule-making Strategies.  PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/419OGHl

A GLOBAL RX: HOW EVERY COUNTRY CAN HALVE PREMATURE DEATH BY 2050. 2/18, 7:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Duke University. Speaker: Dr. Gavin Yamey, Professor, Global Health, Public Policy, Duke. 

THE IREICHŌ: DAY OF REMEMBRANCE. 2/18, 6:30-7:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: National Archives Foundation. Speakers: Dr. Colleen Shogan, National Archives; Dr. Anthea Hartig, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History; Duncan Ryuken Williams, Irei Project, USC Professor; Shirley Higuchi, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation; Ann Burroughs, Japanese American National Museum. 

Monday Asia Events November 25, 2024

SUPER ACTIVE AGEING SOCIETY CONFERENCE. 11/25, 9:00am-6:00pm (JST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Nikkei; Novartis; Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking; Relive. Speakers Include Keizo Takemi, Member of the House of Councillors, former Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan; Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population and the Global Financing Facility, World Bank; Hidenori Arai, President, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. 

DIFFICULT DECISIONS: ALLIES’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE U.S.-CHINA RIVALRY. 11/25, 9:00-10:15am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Injoo Sohn, Professor, Seoul National University; Chaesung Chun, Professor, Seoul National University; Victor Cha, CSIS; Bonny Lin, CSIS; Steve Tsang, SOAS. 

BOMBING TO PROVOKE: ROCKETS, MISSILES, AND DRONES AS INSTRUMENTS OF FEAR AND COERCION. 11/25, 11:00-12:15pm (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Jaganath Sankaran, Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Sarah Kreps, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Bruce Riedel, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy. 

WINNING THE GREAT POWER COMPETITION WITH MATT POTTINGER AND MICHAEL SOBOLIK. 11/25, 11:30am-12:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: Foreign Policy Research Institute. Speakers: Matt Pottinger, Chairman of the China Program, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution.; Michael Sobolik, Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies, American Foreign Policy Council.

A CONVERSATION WITH PEACE CORPS DIRECTOR CAROL SPAHN. 11/25, 9:00-10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Carol Spahn, Director, Peace Corps, US; Charles Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair. 

THE AFTERMATH OF TRUMP'S ELECTION FOR TRADE. 11/25, 10:00am (EST), ZOOM. Sponsor: Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, in partnership with the Hinrich Foundation. Speaker: trade expert Keith M. Rockwell, Hinrich Foundation. 

BOMBING TO PROVOKE: ROCKETS, MISSILES, AND DRONES AS INSTRUMENTS OF FEAR AND COERCION. 11/25, 11:00-12:15pm (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Jaganath Sankaran, Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Sarah Kreps, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Bruce Riedel, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy. 

WINNING THE GREAT POWER COMPETITION WITH MATT POTTINGER AND MICHAEL SOBOLIK. 11/25, 11:30am-12:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: Foreign Policy Research Institute. Speakers: Matt Pottinger, Chairman of the China Program, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution.; Michael Sobolik, Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies, American Foreign Policy Council.

FUTURE OF BIODIVERSITY FUNDING: KEY FINANCIAL MECHANISMS FOR 2025. 11/25, 2:30-4:00pm (EST). HYBRID. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: TBA. 

Monday Asia Events February 19, 2024

President's Day, National Holiday, in the United States

US Congress in recess

THE DOHA GLOBAL SOUTH HEALTH POLICY INITIATIVE, “ENHANCING PRIMARY HEALTHCARE ACCESS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS.” 2/19, 9:00am-Noon (AST), 8:00-11:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsors: Middlee East Council on Global Affairs; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Speakers: Chris Elias, President of the Global Development Division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Deo Nshimirimana, Member of the Africa Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Committee, World Health Organization; Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary, African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). 

INDONESIA’S 2024 ELECTIONS: JAVA AND BEYOND. 2/19 9:00-10:00pm; 2/20, 10:00-11:30am (SST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Yusof Ishak Institute. Speakers: Deasy Simandjuntak is a political scientist and a political anthropologist. She is Associate Fellow at ISEAS and Adjunct Associate Professor at National Chengchi University, Taipei. Antonius Made Tony Supriatma is a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS Ian Douglas Wilson is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS. 

Monday October 3, 2023 Events on Asia

ALLIED PERSPECTIVES ON SEMICONDUCTOR EXPORT CONTROLS. 10/2, 10:00-11:30am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Gregory C. Allen, Editor of the report and CSIS director; Emily Benson, Director, Project on Trade and Technology and Senior Fellow, CSIS; Chau-Chyun Chang, Senior Strategy Executive Director, Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center; Francesca Ghiretti, Analyst, Mercator Institute for China Studies; Jan-Peter Kleinhans, Director, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung; Rem Korteweg, Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Institute; Wonho Yeon, Research Fellow, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. 

NEW TOOLS FOR ACCELERATING PROGRESS IN ENDING TUBERCULOSIS: THE LANCET COMMISSION ON TUBERCULOSIS REPORT, 2023. 10/2, 2:00-3:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Katherine E. Bliss, Senior Fellow and Director, Immunizations and Health Systems Resilience, Global Health Policy Center; Nidhi Bouri, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development; Anthony Fauci, Distinguished University Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University; Eric Goosby, Professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. 

INTERNAL SECURITY IN INDIA: VIOLENCE, ORDER, AND THE STATE. 10/2, 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Amit Ahuja, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center; Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation Professor, South Asian Studies at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow, Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program; Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

BREAKING THE DOLLAR'S MONOPOLY: HOW CHINA'S REGIONAL DE-DOLLARIZATION INITIATIVE IS RESHAPING INTERNATIONAL FINANCE WITH ZONGYUAN ZOE LIU. 10/2, 4:30-6:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsors: Harvard China and the World Program; Columbia Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Speaker: Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Maurice R. Greenberg fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

THE COST OF CLIMATE: HOW CAN COUNTRIES PAY FOR CLIMATE ACTION? 10/2, 11:00-12:00 (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for Global Development. Speakers: Raphael Lam, Deputy Division Chief, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Christine Richmond, Deputy Division Chief, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF; Min Zhu, Vice Chairman of China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, and Envoy of Sino-UK Professional and Financial Service for the Belt and Road Initiative; Ruud de Mooij, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF; Carolyn Fischer, Research Manager, Development Research Group, World Bank.

Asia Events Monday April 25, 2022

FRANCE HAS VOTED: WHAT’S NEXT FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY AND TRANSATLANTIC COOPERATION? 4/25, 9:00-10:00am (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Speakers: Sylvie Kauffmann, Editorial Director & Columnist, Le Monde; Pierre Morcos, Visiting Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Edgar Tam, Visiting Senior Fellow, GMF; Martin Quencez, Deputy Director, Research Fellow, Security & Defense program, GMF (Paris Office). 

WAR LEGACIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT. 4/25, 9:00-10:15am (EDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Stimson Center. Speakers: Sera Koulabdara, Legacies of War; Erin Lin, Department of Political Science, Ohio State University; Doug Weir, Research and Policy Director, Conflict and Environment Observatory; Claire Yunker, Executive Director of PeaceTrees Vietnam; Moderator: Charles Bailey, War Legacies Working Group. 

SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY’S YEAR OF ACTION: AN UPDATE FROM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION. 4/25, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Society for International Development. Speakers: Rosarie Tucci, Director, Democracy, Rights and Governance Center, USAID; Patrick Quirk, Senior Director for Strategy, Research, and Center for Global Impact, International Republican Institute (IRI); Barbara Smith, Vice President, Peace Programs, Carter Center. 

ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT. 4/25, 10:00-11:30am (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: Peace and Security, Georgetown Institute For Women. Speakers: The Honorable Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations; Wai Wai Nu, Founder, Director, Women’s Peace Network, Myanmar; Oleksandra Matviychuk, Human Rights Activist, Chair, Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine; Arsalan Suleman, Former Acting U.S. Special Envoy, Organization of Islamic Cooperation; Dr. Robert Nagel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security; Amb. Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security. 

THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE AND THE SEEDS OF THE NEW EUROPEAN WAR. 4/25, Noon-1:00pm (EDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Starr Forum, MIT. Speaker: Vladislav Zubok, Professor of International History, LSE; Moderators: Carol Saivetz, Senior Advisor, Security Studies Program, MIT; Elizabeth Wood, Professor of history, MIT. 

THE VORTEX: A TRUE STORY OF HISTORY'S DEADLIEST STORM, AN UNSPEAKABLE WAR, AND LIBERATION. 4/25, Noon-1:30pm (EDT), IN-PERSON & ZOOM WEBINAR, Washington, DC. Sponsor: George Washington University (GW). Speakers: Marcus D. King, John O. Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs, Director, Master of Arts in International Affairs Program, ESIA, GW; Deepa Ollapally, Research Professor of International Affairs, Associate Director, Sigur Center, GW. 

PROSPECTS FOR THE POST-COVID ASIAN ECONOMY WITH ADB CHIEF ECONOMIST. 4/25, 12:30-1:30pm (EDT), IN-PERSON, Washington, DC. Sponsor: Reischauer Center. Speaker: Dr. Albert Park, Chief Economist, Asian Development Bank (ADB); Moderator: Kent E. Calder, Director, Edwin O. Reischauer Center, East Asian Studies. 

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2022 ANNUAL REPORT: KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 4/25, 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), IN-PERSON, Washington, DC. Sponsor: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Speakers: Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Nadine Maenza, Chair, USCIRF; Nury Turkel, Vice Chair, USCIRF. 

GREAT WALL OF STEEL: CHINA'S GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO SUPPRESS THE UYGHURS. 4/25, 2:00-3:30pm (EDT), WEBCAST. Sponsor: Kissinger Institute on China and the United States (KICUS). Speakers: Bradley Jardine, Schwarzman Scholar, Schwarzman Scholar, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), Research Consultant, Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs; Moderator: Robert Daly, Director, KICUS. 

CITIES FORTIFYING DEMOCRACY: A CONVERSATION WITH THE MAYOR OF WARSAW. 4/25, 2:30-3:15pm (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Speakers: Heather A. Conley, President, GMF; Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor, City of Warsaw, Poland; Moderator: Laura Thornton, Director, Alliance for Securing Democracy, GMF. 

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (AMR) AS A GLOBAL SECURITY THREAT: DESTABILIZING FOOD SYSTEMS AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES. 4/25, 3:00-4:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM & IN-PERSON, Washington, DC. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Rasmus Prehn, Minister, Danish Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries; Rod Schoonover, Head, Ecological Security Group, Council On Strategic Risks; Junxia Song, AMR Focal Point and Senior Animal Health Officer, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; Moderator: Caitlin Welsh, Director, Global Food Security Program. 

UKRAINIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE FAILURE. 4/25, 5:00-6:00pm (EDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Institute of World Politics. Speaker: Ethan S. Burger, IWP Cyber Intelligence Instructor, International Attorney. 

Monday Asia Event March 28, 2022

2022 GLOBAL ENERGY FORUM. 3/28-29 (EDT), WEBCAST. Sponsors: United Arab Emirates Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure; Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week; Atlantic Council. 

CHINA-RUSSIA RELATIONS: PEERS, ALLIES, COMPETITORS? 3/28, 9:00-10:30am (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor; Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, GU. Speakers: Joseph Torigian, Assistant Professor, School of International Service, American University; Elizabeth Wishnick, Senior Research Scientist, China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division, CNA; Yu Bin, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Wittenberg University; Moderator: Evan Medeiros, Penner Family Chair in Asian Studies, School of Foreign Service, GU.

CHINA’S ROLE IN THE SMUGGLING OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS AND PRECURSORS. 3/28, 10:00-11:30am (EDT), ONLINE-ONLY. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Vanda Felbab-Brown, Director, Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, Co-Director, Africa Security Initiative, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Ryan Hass, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center, Michael H. Armacost Chair, Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair, Taiwan Studies, Nonresident Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center, Yale Law School; Rupert Stone, Independent Journalist, Analyst; Moderator: Claire Galofaro, National Writer, Associated Press. 

U.S. NAVCENT COMMANDER VICE ADMIRAL BRAD COOPER. 3/28, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Middle East Institute (MEI). Speakers: Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in U.S. Central Command (NAVCENT), U.S. Fifth Fleet, Combined Maritime Forces; Moderator: Bilal Y. Saab, Senior Fellow, Director, Defense and Security Program, MEI. 

WAHHABISM AND THE WORLD. 3/28, 12:30-1:30pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Berkley Center, GU. Speakers: Peter Mandaville, Editor, Senior Research Fellow, Berkley Center, GU; Alexander Thurston, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Cincinnati; Moderator: Annelle Sheline, Research Fellow, Middle East Program, Quincy Institute. 

REEXAMINING GLOBAL HEALTH: GLOBAL COMMONS, FINANCING PRIORITIES, AND THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH. 3/28, 11:00am-Noon (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: Center for Global Development. Speakers: Olusoji Adeyi, Former Director, Global Practice, Health, Nutrition & Population, World Bank; Dean Jamison, Emeritus Professor, University of California, San Francisco; Agnès Soucat, Head of Health and Social Protection, Agence Française de Développement; Prashant Yadav, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development; Moderator: Amanda Glassman, Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development. 

FREEDOM OVER TYRANNY: A CONVERSATION WITH SENATOR JONI ERNST. 3/28, Noon-12:30pm (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA); Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow, Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Hudson. 

THE EU, U.S. AND NATO: PARTNERS FOR GLOBAL SECURITY. 3/28, 1:00-2:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsors: Global Europe Program, Kennan Institute, Wilson Center. Speakers: Stefano Sannino, Secretary General, European External Action Service; Duncan Wood, Vice President for Strategy & New Initiatives, Senior Advisor, Mexico Institute, Interim Director, Global Europe Program; Moderator: Robin S. Quinville, Former State Department Fellow, Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs, Hamilton College, New York, Senior Diplomat, formerly Chargé d’Affaires, U.S. Embassy in Berlin. 

ON THE UPCOMING NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY FROM MICHAEL R. POMPEO AND NADIA SCHADLOW. 3/28, 2:00-2:20pm (EDT), ONLINE. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Michael R. Pompeo, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute, ; Nadia Schadlow, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute and former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy. 

ORGANIZATIONS AND NATION-STATE CYBER THREATS IN THE CROSSHAIRS. 3/28, 3:00-4:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Bryan Palma, Chief Executive Officer, Trellix; Brandon Wales, Executive Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; John Fokker, Head of Cyber Investigations, Trellix; Matthew Noyes, Director, Cyber Policy and Strategy, U.S. Secret Service; Moderators: James A. Lewis, Senior Vice President and Director, Strategic Technologies Program, CSIS; Eugenia Lostri, Associate Fellow, Strategic Technologies Program, CSIS. 

IN A GLOBAL ERA: WHY MEMORY DEBATES HAVE EXPLODED NOW. 3/28, 3:45-5:45pm (EDT), ZOOM. Sponsor: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Speakers: author, Sebastian Conrad, Global History University Professor, Freie Universität Berlin, Memory in a Global Era: Why Memory Debates Have Exploded Now; Nate George, Raphael Morrison Dorman Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Scholars Program, Harvard University, Kabl Wilkerson, PhD Candidate, Harvard University. 

IN CONVERSATION WITH SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG. 3/28, 4:00-5:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Leader of the Opposition, Senate and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia; Moderator: Charles Edel, Australia Chair, Senior Adviser, CSIS. 

MICRO-INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF CAPITALISM: SECTORAL PATHWAYS TO GLOBALIZATION IN CHINA, INDIA, AND RUSSIA. 3/28, 4:30-6:00pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program. Speaker: Roselyn Hsueh, Associate Professor of Political Science, Temple University. 

Monday Asia Events December 13, 2021

BEYOND VACCINE DIPLOMACY: THE UNITED STATES AND COVID19 RECOVERY IN THE PHILIPPINES AND SOUTHEAST ASIA. 12/13, 9:00-10:30pm (EST), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Pacific Forum International. Speakers: Sec. Carlito Galvez, Chief Implementer, National Task Force for COVID-19, Republic of the Philippines; Dr. Yanzhong Huang, Professor and Director, Center for Global Health Studies, Seton Hall University; Moderator: Angelica Mangahas, PhD Candidate, SAIS, Johns Hopkins. 

AMERICAN, CHINESE, AND INDIAN TRILATERAL PERSPECTIVES: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS-REPORT LAUNCH. 12/13, 9:00am (EST), ZOOM. Sponsor: Sigur Center, GW. Speakers: Ambassador Teresita C. Schaffer, served at US embassies in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, and from 1992-95 as US Ambassador in Sri Lanka; Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, Founding President of the US-China Education Trust; Ambassador WEI Wei served as the Special and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Brunei Darussalam, the Republic of Singapore, and the Republic of India; Nirupama Menon Rao is a retired Indian diplomat, Foreign Secretary and Ambassador; David M. Lampton is Senior Fellow at the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins–SAIS; Professor JIA Qingguo currently serves as Professor and former Dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University.

JAPAN, THE U.S., AND ECONOMIC AND SECURITY POLICY LINKAGES IN THE TAIWAN STRAIT. 12/13, 9:15am (EST), ZOOM. Sponsor: Harvard Program on U.S.-Japan Relations and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Speakers: Tain Jy Chen, Professor of Economics, Taipei School of Economics and Political Science, Professor Emeritus, National Taiwan University; Sadamasa Oue, Senior Fellow, Asia Pacific Initiative; Lt. Gen. (retired), Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF); Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science, Davidson College; Daniel Russel, Vice President, International Security and Diplomacy, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI); Moderator: Christina L. Davis, Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations; Professor of Government; Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. 

TRAFFIC LIGHT & QUIRINALE: A MORE JOINED UP FOREIGN POLICY FOR THE EU’S BIG THREE? 12/13, 10:00-11:30am (EST), 4:00-5:30pm (CET), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Speakers: Riccardo Alcaro, Research Coordinator and Head of the Global Actors Programme, IAI Rome; Ronja Kempin, Senior Fellow, EU/Europe Division, SWP Berlin; Pol Morillas, Director, Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB); Jean-Pierre Darnis, Associate Fellow, FRS Paris; Moderator: Zachary Paikin, Researcher, CEPS. 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP AND INERTIAL CONFINEMENT: HOW THE U.S. USES BIG SCIENCE TO ENSURE OUR AGING NUCLEAR WARHEADS WORK. 12/13, Noon-1:00pm (EST), WEBINAR. Sponsors: Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies; Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center. Speakers: Dr. Mark Anderson, Assistant Deputy Administrator, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, National Nuclear Security Administration; Dr. E. Michael Campbell, Director, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester; Dr. Mark C. Herrmann, Deputy Program Director, Fundamental Weapons Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Dr. Kimberly Scott, Program Director, Office of Experimental Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dr. Daniel Sinars, Director, Pulsed Power Sciences Center, Sandia National Laboratories. 

MODERNIZING INTELLIGENCE FOR THE GRAY ZONE. 12/13, 2:00-3:00pm (EST), WEBINAR. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: H.E. Michael Vickers, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; Moderator: Jake Harrington, Intelligence Fellow, International Security Program, CSIS. 

COLLAPSE: THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION. 12/13, 4:00-5:00pm (EST), WEBINAR. Sponsors: National History Center; Wilson Center (WWC). Speakers: Vladislav Zubok, Author, Professor, London School of Economics and Political Science; William Taubman, Bertrand Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Amherst College; Dina Fainberg, Associate Professor of Modern History, City University of London. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3Dttkpu

JOONGANG ILBO-CSIS FORUM 2021: THE BIDEN ERA AND KOREA'S GLOBAL STRATEGY. 12/13, 7:30-10:30pm (EST), WEBINAR. Sponsors: CSIS; JoongAng Ilbo. Speakers Include: Yun Byung-Se, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea; Song Min-Soon, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea; Hong Seok-Hyun, Chairman, JoongAng Holdings; Park Myung-Lim, Director, Korea Peace Foundation; Wi Sung-Lac, Chairman, Pragmatic Foreign Affairs Committee, Presidential Campaign for Lee Jae Myung, Democratic Party of Korea; John J. Hamre, President, CSIS; Victor 

Monday Asia Events, September 20, 2021

RESPONDING TO THE UYGHUR GENOCIDE: ASSESSING POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE OPTIONS FOR THE U.S. 9/20, 9:00am (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University. Speakers: Rushan Abbas, Executive Director, Campaign for Uyghurs; Brett Hansen, Foreign Service Officer, United States Department of State; Ewelina Ochab, Co-founder, Coalition for Genocide Response; Sophie Richardson, China Director, Human Rights Watch; Nury Turkel - Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute. 

OCEAN NATIONS: AN INDO-PACIFIC ISLANDS DIALOGUE - DAY 2. 9:30am-5:45pm (EDT) New York, NY and Virtual. Sponsor: Carnegie and Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Speakers Include: Jayanath Colombage, Foreign Secretary, Sri Lanka; Atsushi Watanabe, Senior Research Fellow Ocean Policy Institute, Sasakawa Peace Foundation; Teburoro Tito, Permanent Representative, Republic of Kiribati; Hiroyuki Suzuki, Chief Representative of the Washington Office, Japan Bank for International Cooperation; Inia Seruiratu, Minister of Defense and National Security, Fiji; Randall G. Schriver, Chairman of the Board, Project 2049 Institute. Location: Japan Society, 333 E 47th St. 

INVESTIGATING COVID-19 AND THE CHINA COVERUP. 9/20, 9:45-10:45am (EDT), Online. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Kevin Brock, Senior Fellow, Center For Financial Stability; Diane Cutler, Detailee, House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Tom Dinanno, Adjunct Fellow, Hudson Institute; David Asher, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; John P. Walters (Moderator), President and CEO, Hudson Institute. 

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN ATROCITY PREVENTION. 10:00am-Noon (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsors: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect; Government of Costa Rica; Government of Croatia; Government of Denmark. Speakers: Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide; Wai Wai Nu, Burmese human rights activist, Founder, Executive Director, Women’s Peace Network; H.E. Mr. Rodolfo Solano Quirós, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Costa Rica; H.E. Mr. Gordan Grlić-Radman, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Republic of Croatia; H.E. Mr. Jeppe Kofod, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Denmark. Moderator: Savita Pawnday, Deputy Executive Director, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Contact: Ms. Juliette Paauwe, jpaauwe@globalr2p.org.

AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN ADVANCING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. 1:00-2:30pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsors: Brookings; UN Foundation. Speakers: Cynthia Yue, UNA-USA Youth Observer, United Nations; Dr. Helene Gayle, President and CEO, Chicago Community Trust; Michael McAfee, President and CEO, PolicyLink; Carmen Villar, Vice President, Social Business Innovation, Merck. Moderator: Ana Marie Argilagos, President and CEO, Hispanics in Philanthropy. 

ELECTIONS, PROTEST, AND AUTHORITARIAN REGIME STABILITY: RUSSIA 2008–2020. 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Kennan Institute, Wilson Center. Speaker: Regina Smyth, Professor, Political Science, Indiana University. Moderator: William E. Pomeranz, Deputy Director, Kennan Institute. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3z8ATQ4

UNCONTROLLED SPREAD. 5:30-6:30pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsor: American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Speakers: author, Scott Gottlieb, Senior Fellow, AEI; Robert Doar, President, AEI. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/2XcyjeE

CHINA, THE US AND CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: A CONVERSATION WITH FORMER PRIME MINISTER KEVIN RUDD. 6:00-7:00pm (EDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Center on Global Energy, Columbia SIPA. Speaker: Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australia. 

PINK GLOBALIZATION: CHALLENGING HELLO KITTY’S TREK ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 8:00-9:00pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: 21st Century Japan Politics & Society Initiative, Indiana U. Speaker: Christine Yano, Professor, Anthropology, University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Moderator: Prof Adam P. Liff, Associate Professor of East Asian International Relations, Founding Director of its 21st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (“21JPSI”), Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, Associate-in-Research, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3nvfTRm

Monday Asia Events, August 2, 2021

WHITHER BARISAN NASIONAL IN TODAY’S MALAYSIA? 10:00-11:30am (PHDT), ZOOM WEBINAR. Sponsor: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) – Yusof Ishak Institute; Speakers: Datuk P. Kamalanathan, Chairman, Labuan Port Authority, Member, Central Working Committee, Malaysian Indian Congress; Mr. Gan Ping Sieu, Founder and Senior Partner, Gan and Zul Advocates & Solicitors. 

IMPLEMENTING A NEW MARITIME STRATEGY. Noon-1:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Representative Elaine Luria (D-VA), Vice Chair, House Armed Services Committee; Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Hudson Institute. 

A CONVERSATION WITH DR. ANTHONY FAUCI ON THE ANTIVIRAL PROGRAM FOR PANDEMICS. 3:00-4:00pm (EDT), LIVESTREAM. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; J. Stephen Morrison, Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy Center, CSIS. 

Japan Can’t Handle the Coronavirus. Can It Host the Olympics?

How leaders’ sense of entitlement breeds indifference and incompetence. 

By Koichi Nakano, political scientist, Sophia University, 

New York Times 2/26/2020

The Japanese government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been staggeringly incompetent. Why, when so much is at stake for Japan, especially as the host country of the Olympics this summer?

The first infection in Japan was confirmed on Jan. 28. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be “a public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30. But it took until Feb. 17 for the Health Ministry of Japan to even inform the public about when, where and how to contact government health care centers in case of a suspected infection. And it was only this Tuesday that the government finally adopted a “basic policy” for responding to the outbreak — which essentially boiled down to asking people to stay home. As of Wednesday, there were 847 confirmed cases of Covid-19 (and six deaths) in or just offshore of Japan.

Medical professionals are running short of face masks, disinfectant and test kits — and Japan is running short of medical professionals who can perform diagnostic tests. Yet so far Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has rejected the opposition’s demand to increase the budget currently under discussion in Parliament, or the Diet, to help tackle the outbreak; he has said it was premature to assume that the existing budget reserve will be insufficient.

And so the Japanese people have been told not to seek testing, nor bother visiting medical institutions unless their symptoms are severe and lasting. Mr. Abe has, in effect, outsourced the government’s containment efforts to the population itself, while the state concentrates limited resources on the severely ill and makes little effort to increase those resources. He might also have been thinking: With no test, there can be no rise in confirmed cases either.

The inadequacy of the government’s response was laid bare by the unmitigated epidemiological and public relations disaster that was the saga of the Diamond Princess cruise ship. After a 14-day quarantine, at least 634 passengers and crew members (out of a total of 3,645 people) were confirmed to have been infected aboard the ship. “We’re in a petri dish,” one passenger said. “It’s an experiment. We’re their guinea pigs.”

Since people started leaving the ship on Feb. 19, confirmed cases among them have been reported in the United States, Australia, Israel and Britain. Whereas those countries placed returning passengers under another 14-day period of isolation, Japan simply released all Japanese nationals from the boat — and at least one of them later tested positive for Covid-19. Twenty-three passengers, most of them Japanese, were also accidentally allowed to go without having undergone mandatory medical tests.

Astonishingly, the Japanese government released without a test more than 90 officials who boarded the ship during the quarantine, even though four had already tested positive — and this, according to one report, because of concern that “they won’t be able to fulfill their official duties if found positive.” The Health Ministry has since agreed to test 41 officials, but it still won’t test any medical professionals and quarantine officers who were on board, on grounds that “they had taken sufficient precautions” themselves.

As some observers have pointed out, a measure of denial and inertia is at play. The Japanese bureaucracy is notoriously dominated by a culture of “kotonakare shugi” (literally, “no-problem-ism”), which prioritizes stability and conformity, and shuns anything that might rock the institutional boat. Sound the alarm about an impending crisis and you might be blamed for causing it.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking during a special gathering in Tokyo to manage the coronavirus outbreak. He is said to be spending only minutes on average at meetings of a dedicated task force he presides. 

Mr. Abe’s cabinet set up a task force of ministers to handle the novel coronavirus on Jan. 30, but for many days that group was primarily focused on the situation unfolding in China, particularly on evacuating Japanese nationals from Wuhan, the city at the source of the initial outbreak. As recently as Feb. 13, Japan’s health minister was still saying that more information was necessary “from an epidemiological standpoint to say infections are growing across the country.” Two days later, though, he finally acknowledged that Japan has entered a “new phase” of the outbreak, and now was emphasizing the need to test people and treat the seriously ill. The day after that was the first time the task force convened its panel of experts to seek advice about the conditions in Japan and what measures should be taken.

Why is Mr. Abe — who is no stranger to an authoritarian style of leadership and readily breaks rules and conventions, as well as, arguably, the Constitution, to get his way — not doing more, or more decisively?

The answer might simply be: out of a lack of interest, personal and political. When the expert panel finally gathered on Feb. 16, Mr. Abe addressed it for just three minutes and then spent the rest of the day at home. The task force has met 13 times, but according to the opposition, the prime minister has been seen in attendance a mere 12 minutes on average.

The day after the first Japanese death from Covid-19 was reported, Mr. Abe was at a task force meeting for eight minutes, and then spent nearly three hours at dinner with the chairman and the president of Nikkei, the media organization. Shinjiro Koizumi, the environment minister and a rising star in the ruling party, skipped a task force meeting altogether to attend a New Year’s party with supporters from his constituency.

This is not the first time that Mr. Abe and his entourage display callous indifference in the face of an unfolding disaster. During the summer of 2018, the prime minister and his ruling-party colleagues came under fire for wining and dining in Tokyo during a bout of torrential rains in western Japan that ultimately killed more than 220 people. From the heavy snow that buried and paralyzed Yamanashi in central Japan in 2014 to Faxai and Hagibis, typhoons that devastated parts of eastern Japan last year, the Abe government has often been criticized for exerting far too little leadership to protect the people.

Once again, as Japan struggles to respond to Covid-19, Mr. Abe is largely invisible. Perhaps he — much like President Xi Jinping appears to be doing in China — wants to keep his distances from the crisis for fear of being held responsible for its consequences. But there is another explanation, both simpler and more systemic.

The Japanese government today is dominated by third- and fourth-generation descendants of long political dynasties, who inherited such important assets as name recognition, dedicated electoral machines, ample tax-exempt campaign funds and vast networks of cronies and special interest groups. Both the prime minister and the deputy prime minister, Taro Aso, are the grandchildren of former prime ministers; Mr. Koizumi, the environment minister, is the son of an ex-prime minister; the defense minister, Taro Kono, is the son of a former deputy prime minister.

Mr. Abe owes his premiership to the accident of birth rather than the democratic will of the Japanese people.

More than one-third of the lawmakers from his Liberal Democratic Party are hereditary politicians. Mr. Abe, who first was prime minister in 2006-7, won back the presidency of the L.D.P. in September 2012 — soon before the party won the election that propelled him to the premiership again — even though the preferences of rank-and-file party members placed him a distant second out of five candidates for the position. (He won because the views of members who are parliamentarians are weighted more.) His current cabinet of 19 ministers counts five sons or grandsons of former members of the Diet; another three have relatives who were lawmakers. The Japanese government is a privileged club of hereditary politicians and their opportunistic sycophants, and a comforting echo chamber.

Japan’s leaders are so out of touch with the lives of ordinary people that they seem genuinely uninterested in their plight. That, in turn, allows an entire bureaucracy to wallow in denial, even over a crisis like the coronavirus outbreak and just a few months away from the Olympics.

Monday in Washington, February 10, 2020

ASSESSING 30 YEARS OF PEACEFUL REVOLUTION. 2/10, Noon-2:00pm. Sponsor: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS). Speakers: Piotr Wilczek, Polish Ambassador to the U.S.; Emily Haber, German Ambassador to the U.S.

FORGING THE ARMY’S FUTURE. 2/10, 1:00-2:30pm. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speaker: John M. Murray, Commanding General, Army Futures Command (AFC). 

A CONSENSUS PROPOSAL FOR A REVISED REGIONAL ORDER. 2/10, 1:30-3:00pm. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Alexandra Dienes, Research Associate, Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung; Samuel Charap, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation; Vasyl Filipchuk, Senior Adviser, International Center for Policy Studies; Yulia Nikitina, Associate Professor, World Politics and Research Fellow, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO); Paul Schwartz, Research Analyst, CNA; Jeff Mankoff, Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, CSIS.

CONTAINING THE CORONAVIRUS: CHALLENGES TO THWARTING THE OUTBREAK. 2/10, 1:30-3:30pm. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: Eric Brown, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; Dr. Daniel Chertow, Head, Emerging Pathogens Section, National Institutes of Health; Dr. Julie Gerberding, Executive Vice President, Merck; Dr. William Karesh , Executive Vice President, EcoHealth Alliance; Joe Lieberman, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense; Tim Morrison, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute. 

AMERICA RETHINKS CHINA: A CONVERSATION WITH JIAYANG FAN AND KAISER KUO. 2/10, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Kissinger Institute, Wilson Center. Speakers: Jiayang Fan, Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Kaiser Kuo, Host of the Sinica Podcast and Editor-at-Large at SupChina.com.

HOW CAN TAIWAN ASSURE ITS INNOVATION ADVANTAGE? 2/10, 2:00-3:30pm. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Alexa Lee, Senior Manager of Policy, Information Technology Industry Council; Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie. 

Monday in Washington, February 3, 2020

REAL-WORLD BLOCKCHAIN: SAFEGUARDING THE TRACEABILITY OF CRITICAL MATERIALS. 2/3, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Dr. Philippe Thevoz is the Executive Vice-President eGovernment Systems at SICPA; Cindy Vestergaard, Director, Blockschain in Practice and Director, Nuclear Safeguards.

SUCCESS OR REGRESS? THE STATE OF HIV IN 2020. 2/3, 10:30am-12:15pm. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Regan Hofmann, Director, a.i., U.S. Liaison Office, UNAIDS; Jennifer Kates, Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health & HIV Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation; Greg Millett, Vice President and Director of Public Policy, amfAR; Moderator: Sara M. Allinder, Executive Director and Senior Fellow, CSIS Global Health Policy Center.

’NEVER AGAIN’ HAS BECOME AGAIN AND AGAIN: RISE OF ANTISEMITISIM AND WHAT MUST BE DONE. 2/3, Noon-1:15pm. Sponsor: Defense Forum Foundation. Speaker: Rabbi Abraham Cooper, President and CEO, Center for Security Policy. Location: 2043 Rayburn House Office Building. 

Monday in Washington, April 22, 2019

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UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE RELATED PHYSICAL RISK. 4/22, 10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group, co-director, Climate Impact Lab. Location: CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW.

US-CHINA DIPLOMACY: 40 YEARS OF WHAT’S WORKED AND WHAT HASN’T. 4/22,10:00-11:30am. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Ryan Hass, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center; Wendy Cutler, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Society Policy Institute; Amb. David Shear, Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates; Dennis Wilder, Assistant Professor of Practice, GTU, and Managing Director, Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues; Moderator: James Green, Senior Research Fellow, Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues, GTU.

THE SIMON ABUNDANCE INDEX: A NEW WAY TO MEASURE AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES. 4/22, 11:00-12:30pm. Sponsor: CATO. Speakers: David M. Simon, Lawyer, Eimer Stahl LLP, Chicago; Gale Pooley, Associate Professor of Business Management, Brigham Young University; George Gilder, Investor, writer, economist, techno-utopian, and author of Life after Google; Moderator: Marian L. Tupy, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, CATO.

THE FUTURE OF AFGHANISTAN: ONGOING NEGOTIATIONS AND THE ROLE OF REGIONAL PARTNERS. 4/22, 11:00am-Noon. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Daud Khattak, Senior Editor, Radio Mashaal, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty; Ambassador Omar Samad, Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council; Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia, Wilson Center; Moderator: Fatemeh Aman, Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council.

EARTH DAY: THE ETHICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. 4/22, Noon-1:00pm. Sponsor: Elliott School of International Affairs, GW. Speaker: Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute (WRI).

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NO GREAT WALL: TRADE, TARIFFS, AND NATIONALISM IN REPUBLICAN CHINA, 1927-1945. 4/22, 4:00-5:30pm. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speaker: Felix Boecking, author, Senior Lecturer in Modern Chinese Economic and Political History, University of Edinburgh, UK, Fellow, Wilson Center; Moderators: Christian F. Ostermann, Director, History and Public Policy Program; Cold War International History Project; North Korea Documentation Project; Nuclear Proliferation International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center; Eric Arnesen, Fellow, Professor of History, George Washington University. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/2GyoT2w

NEW DYNAMICS OF ENERGY SECURITY. 4/22, 4:00-5:00pm. Sponsor: Institute of World Politics. Speaker: Dr. Sara Vakhshouri, Founder and President of SVB Energy International.

WORLD CLASS: A CONVERSATION WITH AUTHOR DR. WILLIAM A. HASELTINE, 4/22, 5:00-6:00pm. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: John R. Allen, President, Brookings; William A. Haseltine, Trustee, Brookings, and Author of World Class: A Story of Adversity, Transformation, and Success at NYU Langone Health; Paul B. Ginsburg, Director, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy.