Asia Policy Events, Week of August 23, 2026

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Week of August 23, 2026

8/18-24 -King of Jordan Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein pays a state visit to China.
8/19-22 - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits South Korea and Indonesia.

8/21 -  Annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea ends. The exercise began on Aug 17 concludes one week earlier than scheduled by order of President Trump. Associated live-training events have been reduced, with certain events canceled or converted to simulations.”

8/23 -Kazakhstan is set to hold snap parliamentary elections.

8/23 – 1939. Molotov Ribbentrop Pact (non-aggression Treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union) signed. Germany-Soviet alliance enabled WWII.

8/23 - Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong gives an annual address to mark the independence of the city-state. 

8/23-24 - Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah pays an official visit to China.
8/23-25 - Mexican Foreign Secretary Roberto Velasco Álvarez visits South Korea.

8/25 - Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah pays an official visit to South Korea.

8/23-27 - World Water Week.

8/24-26 - Inaugural Silk Road Finance & Technology Forum, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
8/24-27- 2026 Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo (NECX), Dallas, Texas.
8/27-29 - Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium 2026, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 
8/29 – 1949. Russia’s first nuclear test, RDS-1.
8/29 – International Day against Nuclear Tests.
8/29 – 1945. First POW camp on the Home Islands of Japan evacuated, Omori on Tokyo Bay and the nearby Shinagawa “hospital,” which rescuers said was “an indescribable hellhole of filth, disease, and death.” (Today, the Heiwajima Motor Boat Racing venue is located at the site of this former POW camp on the artificial island built by the POWs. The camp held Louis Zamperini and Pappy Boyington. Motor boat race gambling was established by unindicted Class A war criminal and black marketeer Ryoichi Sasakawa and remains controlled by his organization, the Nippon Foundation and revenue supports the Sasakawa family of foundations).
8/31 - Seoul's Central District Court sentences Ms. Han Hak-ja, 83 , leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, commonly known as the Unification Church, for on charges of political fund violations and bribery involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee.

BOMBING IS NOT VERIFICATION: THE LIMITS OF STRIKES ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM. 8/24, Noon (EDT), VIRTUAl. Sponsor: Council on Strategic Risks. Speakers: Andrew Weber, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs; Rose Gottemoeller (Former Deputy Secretary General, NATO; Moderator; Mallory Stewart, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance.

AI AGENT CONTAINMENT FAILURES: TECHNICAL REALITIES AND POLICY RESPONSES. 8/24, 2:00-4:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Representative Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Member, Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee; Ian Reynolds, AI Policy Manager, Hugging Face; Helen Toner, Executive Director, The Center for Security and Emerging Technology; Mackenzie Arnold, Director of US Policy, LawAI; Aalok Mehta, Director, Wadhwani AI Center; Matt Pearl, Director, Strategic Technologies Program.

BEYOND THE TALIBAN: FIVE YEARS OF AFGHAN RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE. 8/25, 10:00am-3:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: National Endowment for Democracy. Speakers: Ryan Crocker, Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan; Nick Schifrin, Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent, PBS NewsHour; Annie Pforzheimer, Former U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer; Minister Counselor (Retired); Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues; Adela Raz, Director, Afghanistan Policy Lab, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Former Afghanistan Ambassador to the U.S.; Lotfullah Najafizada, CEO, Amu TV; Fawzia Koofi, Former Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament and Founder, Women for Afghanistan; Mariam Safi, CEO, Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies; Wazhma Frogh, Human Rights Lawyers and CEO, Women and Peace Studies Organization; Nasir Andisha, Founder, Center for Dialogue and Progress, and Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the UN in Geneva; Parwiz Kawa, Executive Director, 8AM Media; Damon Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Endowment for Democracy.

 

PRESS CONFERENCE: HOW WILL OKINAWA’S NEXT ELECTION IMPACT JAPAN? 8/25, 1:00-2:00pm (JST), MIDNIGHT-1:00am (EDT), HYBRID, Sponsor: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ). Speakers: Naomi Machida, Head of the Ginowan Churamizu Kai; Takamatsu Gushiken — Head of Gamafuya.

ENGAGING NAYPYIDAW IN 2026: BANGKOK AND NEW DELHI’S CONSIDERATIONS. 8/25,  2:30-4:00pm (SGT), 2:30-4:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. Speakers: Dr Lalita Hanwong, Assistant Professor, History Department at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand; Dr V.S Seshadri, Senior Fellow for Economic Security at the Delhi Policy Group. 

THE CHALLENGE OF GULF-CHINA TIES: REASSESSING BEIJING’S ROLE AFTER THE IRAN WAR.  8/25, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Arab Gulf State Institute. Speakers: Mohammed Al-Sudairi, Senior Researcher, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies; Aaron Glasserman, Distinguished Fellow, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University; Chuchu Zhang, Associate Professor of International Relations, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University; Moderator: Robert Mogielnicki, Non-Resident Fellow, AGSI. 

EVALUATING THE FUTURE OF U.S.-SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN TRILATERALISM. 8/25, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute. Speakers: Eun A Jo, Assistant Professor of Government, William and Mary; Ayumi Teraoka, Assistant Professor of Politics, Brandeis University; Bruce Klingner, Senior Fellow, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation; Moderator: Arius Derr, Director of Communications, Korea Economic Institute of America. 

THE LIMITS OF IDEOLOGICAL ALIGNMENT. 8/26, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: American German Institute. Speakers: Zsuzsanna Végh, DAAD/AGI Research Fellow, American-German Institute; Program Officer, German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF); Moderator: Eric Langenbacher, Senior Fellow and Director of the Society, Culture, & Politics Program, American German Institute.

THRIVING, SURVIVING, ZOMBIFYING OR DYING: WHAT FUTURE FOR USMCA. 8/26, 11:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.  Speakers: Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, CEO and founding partner, Consultores Internacionales Ansley; Simon Lester, nonresident fellow, Baker Institute International Economics Program; Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS); Moderator: Karthik Sankaran, senior research fellow in geoeconomics in the Global South program, Quincy Institute.

WHY AMERICA IS RUNNING OUT OF MUNITIONS. 8/26 1:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Policy. Speakers: Tom Karako, Director, CSIS’s Missile Defense Project; Moderator: Ravi Agrawal, Editor in chief, Foreign Policy.

BOOK TALK: HEAVEN DOES NOT BLOCK ALL ROADS: A HISTORY OF TAIWAN THROUGH THE LIFE OF HUANG CHIN-TAO. 8/26, 4:00pm (EDT) IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies. Speakers: Anna Beth Keim, freelance journalist who has been reporting on Taiwan since 2015; Moderator: William Yale, Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies. PURCHASE BOOK  

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF MULTILATERALISM. 8/26, 4:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Stimson. Speaker: Rafael Grossi,Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

AI AND AUTONOMY ON THE MODERN BATTLEFIELD. 8/27, 3:45pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: Gen. (ret.) James Cartwright, USMC, Board Member, Atlantic Council, 8th Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Owen J. Daniels, Nonresident senior fellow, Forward Defense, Atlantic Council; Moderator: Joe Costa, Director, Forward Defense, Atlantic Council.

Asia Policy Events, Monday June 22, 2026

SHADOW OF CATASTROPHE AND THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR DETERRENCE. 6/22, Noon-1:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Speakers: Colin Kahl, Director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford; Janice Stein, Founding Director, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy; Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, Chief, Norwegian Intelligence School. Moderator: Ulrich Kuehn, Head of Arms Control and Emerging Technologies, University of Hamburg.

PHILIPPINES ASEAN CHAIRSHIP 2026: ADVANCING REGIONAL RESILIENCE AND U.S.-ASEAN COLLABORATION. 6/22, 3:00-5:30pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsors: US-ASEAN Center; Embassy of the Philippines; US-Philippines Society. Speakers include: Jose Manuel G. Romualdez, Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States; Hunt VanderToll, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of State; Hans Siriban, Economic Minister and Consul, Philippine Embassy to the U.S.; Heather Variava, Senior Advisor, Bureau of Economic & Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State.

STABILITY MULTIPLIERS: FOOD AND CLIMATE SECURITY IN A FRACTURED WORLD. 6/22, 6:00-8:30pm (BST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsors: Center for Climate and Security, Council on Strategic Risks; Strategic Climate Risks Initiative; Ditchley Foundation; Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University. Speakers: TBA; Moderator: Erin Sikorsky, Director, Center for Climate and Security, Council on Strategic Risks.

WOMEN ARTISTS IN ACTION: VISUALIZING THE 1970S WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENTS. 6/22, 6:00pm (JST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Modern Japan History Workshop. Speaker: Kanako Tajima, PhD Candidate, Columbia University. 

TAIWAN’S STRATEGIC OUTLOOK AND THE FUTURE OF US-TAIWAN RELATIONS. 6/22, 6:30-8:30pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). Speakers: Tom Chih-Chiang Lee, Director-General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office; Shihoko Goto, Vice President of Programs and Director, Asia Program, FPRI; Chris Estep is a Non-Resident Fellow, Asia Program, FPRI; Rupert Hammond-Chambers, President, US-Taiwan Business Council; Aaron Stein, President, FPRI; Vincent Wei-Cheng Wang, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Asia Program, FPRI.

Asia Policy Events, Monday May 18, 2026

BEYOND THE SAHEL: RUSSIA’S TOOLBOX FOR INFLUENCE IN AFRICA. 5/18, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Speakers: Anna Borshchevskaya, Harold Grinspoon Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Mvemba Dizolele, Adjunct Lecturer, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Kate Johnston, Associate Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program, CNAS; David McKenzie, Communications Director, CNAS.

IGP RAPID RESPONSE: US-CHINA RELATIONS AFTER THE TRUMP-XI SUMMIT. 5/18, 11:00am-Noon (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Institute of Global Politics (IGP), Columbia University. Speakers: Isaac Arnsdorf, White House Bureau Chief, Washington Post, Thomas J. Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations, IGP Affiliated Faculty Member, Columbia SIPA, Pritzker Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Erica Downs, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA; Julian Gewirtz, IGP Senior Research Scholar, Columbia SIPA, Former Senior Director, China and Taiwan Affairs, US National Security Council, author of Never Turn Back; Liza Tobin, Managing Director, Garnaut Global, Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation, Former NSC China Director. Moderator: Zongyuan Liu, IGP Senior Research Scholar, Columbia SIPA, Author of Sovereign Funds.

BOOK TALK: IRAN AND THE BOMB: THE ORIGINS AND TRAJECTORY OF THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM. 5/18, Noon-1:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: author Sina Azodi, Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics, Director, Middle East Studies MA Program, George Washington University; Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow, Stimson; Kelsey Davenport, Director for Nonproliferation Policy, Arms Control Association. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4nK3MNt

Nuclear Latency: Deterrent or Invitation to War?

How the War in Iran Reshapes South Korea and Japan’s Nuclear Strategy

by Daniel Sneider, lecturer in East Asian studies at Stanford University, non-resident distinguished fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America, and APP Member. 

First Published March 13, 2026 on The Peninsula.

The Iran war has delivered a verdict on nuclear latency, or the strategy of possessing the capability to develop a nuclear weapons program while stopping short of crossing the weaponization threshold. There are significant implications for Northeast Asia, as South Korea and Japan are pursuing such a strategy amid eroding confidence in U.S. extended deterrence. And both may have latent capability close enough to alarm adversaries but insufficient to deter them.

However, if nuclear latency proves to catalyze rather than prevent conflict, the foundational assumptions underpinning nonproliferation strategy require a fundamental reassessment.

The Failure of Nuclear Latency in Iran

Nuclear latency is defined as having the capability to rapidly develop nuclear weapons—having the fissile material to make a bomb, the technology to construct a warhead, and the means to deliver the weapons—without crossing the threshold. In theory, nuclear latency acts effectively as a deterrent against external attack without ever paying the costs, both material and diplomatic, of acquiring nuclear weapons.

“The theory behind the threshold strategy had a certain appeal: maintain latent capability as a deterrent, avoid the diplomatic costs of overt weaponization, preserve the Supreme Leader’s fatwa against nuclear weapons, keep the door open to negotiations, and explore if you might be able to manifest non-weaponized nuclear deterrence effects of some kind,” Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Ankit Panda wrote of Iran.

But latent deterrence depends on two conditions—making your adversary believe you can rapidly cross the threshold if attacked and offering a diplomatic alternative to war. But Iran constructed what Panda described as the worst possible nuclear posture: proximate enough to a weapon to justify preventive attack, “yet unwilling to cross the threshold that might have actually prevented one.”

Parallel Paths in Seoul and Tokyo

Despite its singular historical experience as the only nation subjected to a nuclear attack, Japan has maintained a deliberate hedging strategy for decades. For example, it has a stockpile of forty-five tons of weapons-grade plutonium (eight tons of it held in Japan), the capability to enrich uranium, ballistic-missile technologies developed under its satellite-launch programs, and advanced fighter aircraft with nuclear delivery potential. A recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency observed that Japan’s latency hedges against regional threats while simultaneously functioning as diplomatic leverage against the United States—an implicit signal that weakening security guarantees could trigger rapid proliferation.

South Korea has long sought capabilities similar to Japan’s but has been thwarted by the 123 Agreement with the United States, a civil nuclear pact that restricts Korea’s ability to produce fissile material and develop potential delivery systems. The Lee Jae Myung administration is negotiating changes to the agreement, specifically regarding uranium enrichment to build nuclear-powered submarines. What was once a predominantly conservative aspiration now spans the political spectrum.

For both South Korea and Japan, the unstated driver for nuclear latency is not only the threat from China, North Korea, and Russia, but increasing doubts about the reliability of the U.S. commitment to provide extended deterrence.

“The U.S. role in the world is changing in fundamental ways as Washington takes deliberate steps away from the rules-based order that it helped build in the years following World War II,” states a joint report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, published in February 2026. “These shifts…have also yielded new questions regarding the enduring nature of the U.S. commitment to the alliance.”

The Erosion of Restraint

Historically, two forces constrained South Korean and Japanese nuclear ambitions: a credible U.S. nuclear umbrella and a U.S. non-proliferation policy that actively opposed any steps in this direction. Both of those restraints are now in question.

Extended deterrence “was never completely credible to the Japanese which is why they keep going back to ask for us to give them more assurance,” Richard Samuels, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has written extensively on this issue, told this writer. “We would be foolish to imagine that the Japanese are not having second thoughts,” Samuels warned, drawing a direct parallel to conversations in Germany and France.

Former Lieutenant General Noboru Yamaguchi, a senior government advisor, went further. “It is impossible to prove extended deterrence is valid,” he explained to this writer. “Deterrence is about how we feel. It was questionable during the Cold War. Now I don’t believe in any kind of deterrence.”

If the Donald Trump administration no longer opposes allied proliferation, as Trump himself has signaled at times, then both South Korea and Japan can move more openly down the road of a robust nuclear latency without triggering the consequence of diplomatic isolation.

“Suppose you don’t get the blowback from the Americans,” former Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory Siegfried Hecker told this writer, “that takes away a lot of the negatives for South Korea, and for Japan.”

The Window of Vulnerability

The critical question is whether adversaries might act as the United States and Israel have done and attempt to destroy South Korea and Japan’s nuclear capability before it crosses the threshold.

“At the end of the day, the people you have to convince are not the Japanese or the Koreans,” comments Professor Samuels. “The people you have to convince are the adversaries—the Chinese and the Russians. We might have been looking in the wrong place.”

Nuclear expert Panda wrote that China and Russia may initially resort to gray-zone tactics. These could include cyberattacks such as those launched against Iran previously. If the United States maintains a limited nuclear umbrella, he told this writer, they might want to stop short of the use of force.

The biggest problem will be what analysts call the “window of vulnerability,” the gap in time between when South Korea and Japan clearly move toward weaponization and when they cross that threshold. That window widens significantly if the goal is tangible deterrence that requires a survivable arsenal with submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Japan holds a substantial advantage. Hecker, a plutonium metallurgist by training with deep knowledge of China, North Korea, and Russia’s nuclear programs, assessed that Japan could direct the assembly of a uranium weapon in six months to a year. A plutonium weapon would likely take up to two years. South Korea faces a longer timeline, according to the former Los Alamos director—two-plus years to produce fissile material alone. But they may be further along in the technical research needed to construct a working weapon, Panda added.

One unconventional scenario includes a South Korea-Japan partnership where South Korea contributes weaponization expertise and Japan supplies fissile material. “It would be a marriage made in heaven,” says Panda.

Conclusion

Nuclear latency may prove to be an accelerant to precisely the conflicts it was designed to prevent. “The North Koreans may pull the Russians in to do something,” suggests Hecker, if South Korea and/or Japan move toward a weapons threshold. “China will be incensed…if there is one thing that gets the Chinese exercised, it’s Japan and a potential nuclear program,” he added.

But the question is whether policymakers in South Korea and Japan will read Iran as a cautionary tale or conclude that, with eroding alliance guarantees and a deteriorating threat environment, they have no better option.

Asia Policy Events, Monday February 23, 2026

THE WORLD OF HARD POWER, AND THE FUTURE OF THE WAR ON UKRAINE. 2/23, Noon-1:00pm (GMT), 7:00-8:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Chatham House. Speaker: General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK. 

BNP RETURNS TO POWER: ASSESSING THE RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF BANGLADESH’S ELECTIONS. 2/23, 9:00-10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Razia Sultana, Core Senior Fellow, Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS); Avinash Paliwal, Reader in International Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies; Farooq Sobhan, Former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, Moderator: Elizabeth Threlkeld, Senior Fellow and Director, South Asia Program, Stimson; Steve Ross, Senior Fellow, Crisis in Rakhine State Project Director, Stimson. 

WHAT COMES NEXT FOR U.S. TRADE POLICY AFTER THE SUPREME COURT’S IEEPA RULING? 2/23, 9:30-10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Navin Girishankar, President, Economic Security and Technology Department; Philip Luck, Director, Economics Program and Scholl Chair in International Business; William Alan Reinsch, Senior Adviser and Scholl Chair Emeritus, Economics Program and Scholl Chair in International Business; Angela Ellard, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Economic Security and Technology Department. 

CHINA-RUSSIA VIEWS OF THE "DONROE DOCTRINE": HOW MOSCOW AND BEIJING ARE RESPONDING TO TRUMP'S FOREIGN POLICY. 2/23, 10:00-11:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Asia Society Policy Institute. Speakers: Elizabeth Wishnick, Senior Research Scientist for China Studies at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA); Lyle J. Goldstein, Director of the China Initiative and Visiting Professor at Brown University’s Watson Institute; Lyle Morris, Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. 

THE UN WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES: THE FUTURE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. 2/23, 10:00-11:45am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Heba Aly, Director, Article 109; Charles Kenny, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development; Sarah E. Mendelson, Distinguished Service Professor of Public Policy, Director, Sustainable Futures, Carnegie Mellon University; Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director, Global Order and Institutions Program. 

HOW WILL THE SUPREME COURT’S IEEPA RULING IMPACT U.S.-CHINA TECH COMPETITION? 2/23, 11:00-11:30am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Navin Girishankar, President, Economic Security and Technology Department; Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics; Sujai Shivakumar, Director and Senior Fellow, Renewing American Innovation; Joseph Majkut, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program. 

THE UK CRITICAL MINERALS STRATEGY: BUILDING NATIONAL RESILIENCE THROUGH GLOBAL POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL COLLABORATION, 2/23, 5:00-6:00pm (GMT), Noon-1:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Chatham House. Speaker: Chris McDonald MP, UK Minister for Industry. 

BOOK TALK: THE WEST: THE HISTORY OF AN IDEA. 2/23, Noon-1:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy Institute. Speakers: author Georgios Varouxakis, Professor of History, Queen Mary University of London; Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program, Quincy Institute. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4tpQIPX

ALLIED NUCLEAR PARTNERSHIPS: ADVANCING U.S.–KOREA–JAPAN COOPERATION. 2/23, Noon-1:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Global American Business Institute (GABI). Speakers: Nobuo Tanaka, Chair, Steering Committee of Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF), CEO, Tanaka Global, Inc., Executive Director Emeritus, International Energy Agency (IEA); Joyce Connery, Principal Owner, Connery Strategies, Former Chair, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Moderator: Jane Nakano, Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Please Contact Mr. Bryan Cheong.

2026 WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONFERENCE. 2/23-24. 1:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Washington International Trade Association (WITA). Speakers: Matt Blunt, President, American Automotive Policy Council; Jordan Dickinson, Director of Government Relations, Target; Andrea Durkin, Vice President for International Policy, National Association of Manufacturers; Nasim Fussell, Vice President, Trade & International, Business Roundtable; Khalil Gharbieh, Senior Director, Trade Policy, Microsoft; Peter Harrell, Visiting Scholar, Institute of International Economic Law, Georgetown Law School; William Kimmitt, Under Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce; Jonathan McHale Vice President, Digital Trade, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA); Kellie Meiman, Senior Counselor, McLarty Associates; Ambassador Mariana Pacheco, External Consultant, Araujo Ibarra; Greta Peisch, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP; Del Renigar, Vice President, External Affairs, Rio Tinto; Sara Schuman, Managing Director, Beacon Global Strategies; Susan Schwab Strategic Advisor, Mayer Brown LLP; Kelly Ann Shaw, Partner, Akin; Joe Stockunas, President of SEMI Americas, SEMI; Stephen Vaughn, Partner, International Trade, King & Spalding LLP; Brad Wood, Senior Director, Trade and Innovation Policy, National Foreign Trade Council; Maria Zieba, Vice President of Government Affairs, National Pork Producers Council; Ricardo Zúñiga, Strategic Advisor, Dinámica Americas. 

FOUR YEARS OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE. 2/23, 3:30-4:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor:

CSIS, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program. Speakers: Max Bergmann, Director, Europe,

Russia, and Eurasia Program and Stuart Center; Maria Snegovaya, Senior Fellow, Europe,

Russia, and Eurasia Program; Hanna Notte, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Europe,

Russia, and Eurasia Program; Jason Paul "JP" Gresh, Senior Associate (Non-resident),

Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program; Michael Kimmage, Director, Kennan Institute.

BOOK TALK: GHOST NATION: THE STORY OF TAIWAN AND ITS STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL. 2/23, 4:00-5:15pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University. Speaker: author Chris Horton. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4kIPcV0

REPORT RELEASE: RECONNAISSANCE GENERAL BUREAU: KIM REGIME’S PRECIOUS TREASURED SWORD. 2/23, 4:00-5:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Committee for Human Rights North Korea. Speakers: Report Author Robert Collins; Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt, HRNK Board Member and Henry Wendt Chair, American Enterprise Institute (AEI); ROKA LTG (Ret.) Chun In-bum; Dr. George Hutchinson, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Korean Studies (IJKS); Greg Scarlatoiu, President and CEO, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). 

WE THE PEOPLE: THE US CONSTITUTION IN TODAY'S WORLD. 2/23, 5:30-6:30pm (CST), 6:30-7:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Speakers: Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, University of Chicago; Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law, University of Chicago. 

[POSTPONED] THE U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE IN A CHANGING WORLD ORDER. 2/23, 6:30-8:30pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP). Speakers: Emma Chanlett-Avery, Asia Society Policy Institute; Ken Jimbo, Keio University; Susan A. Thornton, Director, NCAFP Forum on Asia Pacific Security.

CONTAINING CHINA WITHOUT CONFRONTATION? THE QUAD'S MARITIME SECURITY PARADOX PLAYS OUT AT SEA. 2/23, 6:45-8:45pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). Speaker: John F. Bradford, Co-founder of YCAPS and Adjunct Senior Fellow at RSIS.

NUCLEAR THREATS AND THE LIMITS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. 2/23, 7:00-8:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Anna Hood, Associate Professor, University of Auckland; Monique Cormier, Associate Professor, Monash University; Carrie McDougall, Associate Professor, Melbourne Law School; Paul Davis, Adjunct Principal Researcher, RAND; George Perkovich, Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Senior Fellow. 

THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY IN 2026: GROWTH WITHOUT MOMENTUM. 2/24, 10:00-11:00am (SGT), 2/23, 2/23 9:00-10:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Speakers: Dr. Jan Carlo Punongbayan, Visiting Fellow, Philippine Studies Programme, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Moderator: Dr. Jayant Menon, Visiting Senior Fellow, Regional Economic Studies Programme, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. 

RETHINKING AMERICA’S NORTH KOREA STRATEGY: NEW BOOK

 October 28, 2025 Release

Yale University Press, 560 pages

PURCHASE BOOK

October 22:. Carnegie Endowment for International  Peace, Washington, DC, 2:00-2:45pm (EDT), HYBRID

October 28: The Henry L. Stimson Center, Co-sponsored by the Institute for Science and International Security and the National Committee for North Korea, Washington, DC, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), HYBRID

October 30: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School, Harvard University, 10:00 -11:30am (EDT), HYBRID

November 5: Program on Science and International Security, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, By Invitation 

November 6: National Committee on American Foreign Policy, New York, NY, 6:00-8:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY 

November 7: Center for Korean Research, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, 1:00-2:30pm (EST), HYBRID

November 13: Korea-Pacific Program, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), San Diego, CA, 5:00-6:00pm (PST), VIRTUAL

November 18: Center for International Security and Arms Control, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Stanford University, Stanford,  CA, Noon-1:15pm (PST), HYBRID

November 19: Commonwealth Club/World Affairs Council, San Francisco, CA, 5:30-6:30pm (PST), HYBRID

November 20: Pacific Council for International Policy, Los Angeles, CA, 6:00pm (PST), IN PERSON ONLY

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December 8: National Bureau of Asian Research, Seattle, WA, TBA.

December 10: Pacific Forum, Honolulu, HI,  TBA
Honolulu International Forum, Honolulu, HI, By Invitation

December 11: East-West Center, Honolulu, HI, TBA

For almost four decades, the United States has tried to stop North Korea’s attempts to build nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. In Fallout: The Inside Story of America’s Failure to Disarm North Korea Joel S. Wit, a former State Department official, takes readers to the front lines of nuclear negotiations, fierce policy debates and secret diplomatic gambits, recounting how perilously close the United States and North Korea have come, on various occasions, to nuclear confrontation. 

Based on more than 300 interviews with officials in Washington, Beijing, and Seoul, as well as with the author’s contacts in Pyongyang, this book chronicles how decades of pursuing North Korean nuclear disarmament have played out. 

Wit points to Barack Obama and Donald Trump as the two presidents most responsible for the failure to halt North Korea’s march to build a nuclear arsenal, since it was under their successive tenures that Pyongyang acquired the ability to threaten every city in North America. Wit also offers an unparalleled portrait of Kim Jong Un that refutes his caricature as impulsive and illogical. Like his father and his grandfather, Kim is a ruthless despot but also a canny and informed negotiator determined to secure his dictatorship’s future by exploring diplomacy or, failing that, by building a nuclear arsenal.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joel S. Wit is a distinguished fellow in Asian Security Studies at the Henry L. Stimson Center and a former U.S. State Department official. He is the coauthor with with Robert Gallucci and Daniel Poneman of Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis, the winner of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s 2004 prize for best book. He received his M.I.A. from Columbia University in 1979 and his B.A. from Bucknell University in 1976. He is a member of Asia Policy Point.

Monday Asia Policy Events, May 5, 2025

FORK IN THE ROAD: THE STARK CHOICES ON US IRAN POLICY.  5/5, 11:00am-12:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: CATO. Speakers: Danny Citrinowicz, Research Fellow, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University; Gregory Brew, Senior Analyst, Iran and Energy, Eurasia Group; Negar Mortazavi; Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy; Jon Hoffman, Research Fellow, Cato. 

KOREAN WAVE AND GLOBAL KOREA. 5/5, 1:00-2:30pm, VIRTUAL. Speaker: Areum Jeong, Assistant Professor of Korean Studies, Arizona State University; Moderator: Jungwon Kim, King Sejong Associate Professor of Korean Studies, EALAC, Columbia University.

STRENGTHENING ARTICLE IV: NUCLEAR FACILITY RESILIENCE IN TIMES OF CRISIS. 5/5, 1:00-2:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Nuclear Threat Initiative. Speakers: Dr. Rabia Akhtar, Research Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School; Darya Dolzikova, Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; Ambassador Matteo Fachinotti, Resident Representative to the IAEA, Permanent Representative to the CTBTO PrepCom, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the OSCE, the United Nations, and other International Organizations in Vienna; Klemen Polak, Minister Plenipotentiary, Security Policy Department, Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs; Nickolas Roth; Senior Director, Nuclear Materials Security. 

INSPIRING A SPACE FORCE WARRIOR ETHOS. 5/5, 3:00-4:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Air & Space Forces Association. Speaker: John F. Bentivegna, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force.

RISKS AND REWARDS: WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. 5/5, 5:30-6:30pm (CDT) 6:30-7:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Speakers: Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research, J.P. Morgan; Phil Levy Lead Trade Economist, World Bank; Diane Swonk, Chief Economist, KPMG US.

 
CHARTING AUSTRALIA'S PATH: 2025 ELECTION RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS. 5/5, 6:00-7:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Charles Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair; Laura Tingle, Political Editor, ABC News; Chris Uhlmann, Political Contributor, Sky News, Columnist, The Australian; Stephen Dziedzic, Foreign Affairs (Asia Pacific) Reporter, ABC News. 

Asia Policy Monday Events, March 17, 2025

NAVIGATING THE ARCTIC–A GEOSTRATEGIC FRONTIER FOR THE U.S., JAPAN, AND PARTNERS. 3/17, 10:00-11:30am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Dr. Gaëlle Rivard Piché, Strategic Analyst with Defence Research and Development Canada; Captain Takahiro Ishihara, Ret. Captain of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force; Rear Admiral Lars Saunes, Ret. Rear Admiral, Norway, Professor, Distinguished International Fellow at the US Navy War College. 

DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING DAMAGES FAVORABLE U.S. IMAGE AMONG GLOBAL PUBLIC: IMPLICATIONS FOR ASIA. 3/17, Noon–1:30pm (EDT). IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. Speaker: Yusaku Horiuchi, Professor of Government and Mitsui Professor of Japanese Studies, Dartmouth College. 

KOREAN PENINSULA UPDATE WITH THE NK NEWS TEAM. 3/17, Noon (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Korea Society. Speakers: Chad O'Carroll, Chief Executive Officer, Korea Risk Group; Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent, NK News, Editorial Director, Korea Pro; Colin Zwirko, Senior Analytic Correspondent, NK News; Shrey as Reddy, Lead Correspondent, NK News. 

REWRITING THE NARRATIVE ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS. 3/17, 12:30-2:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Nuclear Threat Initiative (NIT). Speakers: Joan Rohlfing, President and Chief Operating Officer, NTI; Dr. Emma Belcher, President, Ploughshares; Ravi Garla, Strategic Communications Consultant, NTI.

BOOK TALK: RAIN OF RUIN: TOKYO, HIROSHIMA, AND THE SURRENDER OF JAPAN. 3/17, 3:00-4:30pm (EDT). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: History and Public Policy Program, Wilson Center; American Historical Association. Speakers: Richard Overy, Professor of History, University of Exeter, author of Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/40VNKVA

BOOK TALK: BEING KOREAN, BECOMING JAPANESE?: NATIONHOOD, CITIZENSHIP, AND RESISTANCE IN JAPAN. 3/17, 4:00-5:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. Speaker: author Hwaji Shin, Professor of Sociology, University of San Francisco, fmr. Toyota Visiting Professor, University of Michigan. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4izPL1b 

Asia Policy Events, Monday March 3, 2025

TRANSATLANTIC CHALLENGES FOR THE NEXT GERMAN GOVERNMENT. 3/3, 10:00-11:30am (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: American-German Institute. Speakers: Thurid Hurstedt, Dean of Graduate Programmes, Professor of Public Administration and Management, Hertie School; Eric Langenbacher, Senior Fellow, Director, Society, Culture & Politics Program, AGI; Andrea Römmele, Dean of Executive Education, Professor, Communication in Politics and Civil Society, Hertie School.

RESHAPING THE MIDDLE EAST: A CONVERSATION WITH AMJAD TAHA. 3/3, Noon-1:30 pm, HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speaker: Amjad Taha, a UAE-based political strategist and analyst.

89 SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT: IS TIME RUNNING OUT ON NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL? 3/3, 4:00-5:30pm (PST),  7:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsors: Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. Speakers: Jerry Brown, former Governor of California; Alexandra Bell, President and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist.; Herb Lin, Senior research scholar for cyber policy and security, Center for International Security and Cooperation; Rose Gottemoeller, William J. Perry Lecturer, Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. 

N.B.: As Trump cuts to the Federal Government's intellectual infrastructure sink in, expect to see a lot fewer events and policy papers at think tanks. Very few are aligned with Trump and all have had their funding for projects and studies ended--even mid stream. 

Monday Asia Events December 16, 2025

WHERE’S THE WATER: MEKONG DRY SEASON 2025? 12/16, 9:00-10:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Alan Basist, President, Eyes on Earth; Brian Eyler, Senior Fellow and Director, Southeast Asia Program, Stimson Center; Nguyen Y Nhu, Head of Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, Vietnam National University of Science; Courtney Weatherby, Southeast Asia Deputy Director, Stimson Center (Moderator). 

WHAT DOES THE FALL OF THE ASSAD REGIME MEAN FOR SYRIA AND THE

MIDDLE EAST? 12/16, 11:00-11:45am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers:

Sanam Vakil, Director, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House; Charles

Lister, Senior Fellow, Director, Syria, Countering Terrorism and Extremism Programs, Middle

East Institute. 

POWER PLAYS: US-TURKEY RELATIONS UNDER TRUMP. 12/16, Noon (EST),

VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy. Speakers: Steven Simon, Senior Research Fellow, Quincy; Kadir

Ustin, Executive Director, SETA Foundation; Gönül Tol, Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute;

Colonel Rich Outzen, Non-Resident Fellow, Atlantic Council.

MEASURING PRODUCTIVITY IN AN AGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE. 12/16, 2:00-3:00pm (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Hutchins Center, Brookings. Speakers: Marshall Reinsdorf, Economic consultant; Louise Sheiner, Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, Policy Director, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings; Nicholas Muller, Lester and Judith Lave Professor of Economics, Engineering, and Public Policy, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University; David Byrne, Principal Economist, Research and Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Erica Groshen, Senior Economics Advisor, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Research Fellow, Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, former Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF COMMERCE DON GRAVES. 12/16, 2:00–2:45pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for New American Security (CNAS). Speakers: Don Graves, Deputy Secretary of Commerce; Emily Kilcrease, Senior Fellow and Director, Energy, Economic and Security Program, CNAS.

DOLLARS AND DOMINION: U.S. BANKERS AND THE MAKING OF SUPER POWER. 12/16, 4:00-5:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: author Mary Bridges, Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Harold James, Clause and Lore Kelly Professor in European Studies and Professor of History and International Affairs, Princeton University; Marc Levinson, Economist, Historian, and Journalist.  PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4eXPWRM

TO GO NUCLEAR, OR NOT: THE KOREAN PENINSULA ISSUES AND US NATIONAL SECURITY. 12/16, 7:00-8:15pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: Institute for Corean-American Studies (ICAS). Speaker: Vipin Narang, Frank Stanton Professor of Nuclear Security and Political Science, MIT. 

Monday Asia Events December 2, 2024

IMPLICATIONS OF AN IRANIAN NUCLEAR BOMB. 12/2, 10:30-11:45am (EST).
VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: Right Hon. Liz Truss, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Nile Gardiner, Director, Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom and Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow; Robert Peters, Research Fellow, Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense; Andrea Stricker, Deputy Director and Research Fellow, Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program, FDD; Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, The Stimson Center. 

"LIQUIDSCAPE" AND THE ART OF CURATING FROM REGIONAL JAPAN. 12/2, 8:00-9:15am (JST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Asia Society Japan. Speaker: Yuka Takahashi, Curator, Arts Maebashi.   

BOOK TALK: THE TROUBLEMAKER: HOW JIMMY LAI BECAME A BILLIONAIRE, HONG KONG’S GREATEST DISSIDENT, AND CHINA’S MOST FEARED CRITIC. 12/2, 11:00am-Noon (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: AEI. Speaker: author Mark L. Clifford, President, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. https://www.aei.org/events/the-troublemaker-how-jimmy-lai-became-a-billionaire-hong-kongs-greatest-dissident-and-chinas-most-feared-critic/ PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4ihviyE 

 
NEW PARTY POLITICS OF EAST ASIAN DEMOCRACIES. 12/2, Noon-1:15pm (EST). HYBRID. Sponsors: Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations; Korea Institute, Harvard University; Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School. Speakers: Joan Cho, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University; Aram Hur, Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science, The Fletcher School, Tufts University; Koichi Nakano, Visiting Scholar, Program on US-Japan Relations, Harvard University and Professor of Political Science, Sophia University; Daniel Ziblatt, Director, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University. 

ANGELA MERKEL IN CONVERSATION WITH BARACK OBAMA. 12/2, Noon (EST). IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: The Anthem. Speakers: Angela Merkel, former Chancellor of Germany; Barack Obama, former U.S. President. Fee.

THE FUTURE OF US-CHINA RELATIONS AFTER THE ELECTION. 12/2, 3:30-4:30pm (PST) 6:30-7:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: UC San Diego School of Global Policy Strategy. Speakers: Susan Shirk, Director Emeritus, 21st Century China Center, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy; Xinbo Wu, Dean, Institute of International Studies, Director, Center for American Studies, Fudan University; Richard Madsen, Director, Fudan-UC Center on Contemporary China, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, UC San Diego. 

Monday & Tuesday Asia Events November 11 & 12, 2024

November 11 is Veterans Day in Washington, DC

Watch President Biden and Defense Secretary Austin 

at Arlington Cemetery at 11:00am EST

2024 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: HIGH STAKES FOR ASIA. 11/11, 4:00-5:30pm (PST), 7:00-8:30pm (EST). HYBRID. Sponsor: Japan Program, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University. Speakers: Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Stanford University's; Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor, Senior Fellow, Japanese Studies, Shorenstein APARC; Gi-Wook Shin, William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, Professor of Sociology, Senior Fellow, FSI, Stanford University; Gita Wirjawan, Visiting Scholar, Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford. 

TOWARD AN EAST ASIAN UTOPIA: AMBITION AND ILLUSION IN IMPERIAL JAPANESE MILITARY MUSIC. 11/11, 7:00pm (JST), 5:00am (EST), ZOOM. Sponsor: Modern Japan History Workshop. Speaker: Emily Lu, Florida State University. 

BOOK TALK: GAMBLERS, FRAUDSTERS, DREAMERS AND SPIES: THE OUTSIDERS WHO SHAPED MODERN JAPAN. 11/12, 10:00am (JST), 11/11 8:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). Speaker: author Robert Whiting. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/40btWiw

FROM THE FAB TO THE FUTURE: HOW JAPAN AND ITS PARTNERS ARE WORKING TOWARDS SEMICONDUCTOR RESILIENCE AND INNOVATION. 11/12, 8:00am (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Nikkei; Government of Japan. Speakers: David Keohane, Tokyo Correspondent, Financial Times; Bruce Andrews, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Affairs Officer, Intel; Yasuyuki Todo, Professor, Waseda University; Kristy Tsun Tzu Hsu, Director, Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. 

MYANMAR’S 2024 CENSUS: LURCHING TOWARDS ELECTIONS? 11/12, 9:00-10:15pm (EST); 11/13, 10:00-11:15am (Singapore Time), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. Speaker: Mary P. Callahan, Associate Professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington.

CHINA INSTITUTE 2024 EXECUTIVE SUMMIT “NOW WHAT?” – A POST ELECTION OUTLOOK. 11/12, 9:00am-5:00pm (EST). IN-PERSON. Sponsor: China Institute. Speakers Include: Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc, former Under Secretary of State under the Obama Administration; Henry Fernandez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, MSCI; Robert H. McCooey, Vice Chairman, Nasdaq. 

EXPERT TAKE: U.S.-NORTH KOREA RELATIONS WITH FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE STEPHEN BIEGUN. 11/12, 10:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Korea Society. Speaker: Stephen Biegun, fmr. US Deputy Secretary of State, fmr. Special Representative for North Korea.  

AMERICA’S FOREIGN POLICY FUTURE: A POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS. 11/12, 10:00-11:30am (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Stimson Center. Speakers: Nancy A. Youssef, National Security Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal; Amy Mackinnon, Reporter, Foreign Policy; Kelly Grieco, Senior Fellow, Reimagining US Grand Strategy, Stimson Center; Rachel Minyoung Lee, Senior Fellow, Korea Program and 38 North, Stimson Center; Robert Manning, Distinguished Fellow, Strategic Foresight Hub, Stimson Center; Christopher Preble, Senior Fellow and Director, Reimagining US Grand Strategy, Stimson Center; Yun Sun, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, China and East Asia, Stimson Center; Elizabeth Threlkeld, Senior Fellow and Director, South Asia, Stimson Center; Elias Yousif, Fellow and Deputy Director, Conventional Defense, Stimson Center; Sally Yozell, Senior Fellow and Director, Environmental Security, Stimson Center; Nudhara Yusuf, Research Associate, Global Governance, Justice & Security, Stimson Center.

RUSSIA AND CHINA IN CENTRAL ASIA: COMPETE, COOPERATE, OR DE-CONFLICT. 11/12, 2:00-3:00PM (EST). Sponsor: CNAS. Speakers: Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State, South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director, Indo-Pacific Security Program, CNAS; Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Senior Fellow and Director, Transatlantic Security Program, CNAS. 

BOOK TALK: THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ILLIBERALISM. 11/12, 4:00-5:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Elliott School of International Affairs, GWU. Speaker: editor Marlene Laruelle, Elliott School Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science and Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program; Samuel Goldman, CCAS Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and the Politics & Values Program. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3YrROvA

THE PROMISE OF PARTICIPATION: HOW COLLECTIVE DECISION-MAKING CAN GET US TO MORE EFFECTIVE CLIMATE POLICIES. 11/12, 4:00-6:00pm (CET) 10:00am-Noon (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: International Idea. Speaker: Greta Rios, People Powered, Mexico City. 

CONVERSATIONS BEFORE MIDNIGHT: ANNUAL DINNER. 11/12, 5:15-9:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Speakers: David Ignatius, prize-winning columnist, Washington Post; Edmund Gerald Brown, former governor of California; Emily Strasser, author, Professor of the Practice, English, Tufts University; Rachel Bronson, President CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Fee.

Monday Asia Events July 15, 2024

NATO AND NORTHEAST ASIA: AN EXPANDING PARTNERSHIP. 7/15, 8:00-9:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Asia Society Policy Institute. Speakers: Masafumi Ishii, fmr. South Korean Ambassador to NATO; Hyoung Zhin Kim, fmr. Diplomat, ROK; Danny Russel, ASPI Vice President.

 
2024 DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS OF TRADE AND TRADE POLICY - SEMINAR 1: GENDER-SEGMENTED LABOR MARKETS AND TRADE SHOCKS. 7/15, 10:00-11:30am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: United States International Trade Commission. Speakers: Raymond Robertson, Texas A&M University; Carlos Góes, PhD Candidate, USCD Economics; Gladys Lopez Acevedo, Lead Economist, Global Lead, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank.

HOW ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES ARE RESHAPING MANUFACTURING. 7/15, 10:00am-NOON (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: John Hazen White, Jr., Executive Chairman, Taco Family of Companies, Trustee, Brookings; Bruce Lawler, Managing Director, MIT Machine Intelligence for Manufacturing and Operations, General Manager Digital, Re:Build Manufacturing; Helena Fu, Director, Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy; Heather Evans, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing Industry & Analysis, International Trade Administration; Berardino Baratta, CEO, MxD.   

AEROSPACE NATION: LT GEN ANDREW J. GEBARA, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR STRATEGIC DETERRENCE AND NUCLEAR INTEGRATION. 7/15, 10:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Speaker: Lt Gen Andrew J. Gebara, Deputy Chief of Staff, Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration.

BOOK EVENT: DETERRENCE, DIPLOMACY AND THE RISK OF CONFLICT OVER TAIWAN BY BILL EMMOTT. 7/15, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), 3:00-4:00pm (BST), HYBRID. Sponsor: IISS. Speakers: author Bill Emmott, Chairman of the IISS Trustees, independent writer and consultant; Professor Phillips P. O’Brien, Professor of Strategic Studies, Head of the School of International Relations, University of St. Andrews. PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/4buPQiI

AI TRANSFORMATION AT THE DOD: A CONVERSATION WITH CHIEF DIGITAL AND AI OFFICER, DR. RADHA PLUMB. 7/15, 1:30-2:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Radha Plumb, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Department of Defense.

Monday Asia Events June 17, 2024

COMPLEXITIES, DISCONTINUITIES, AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF US INTERNATIONAL TAX RULES: OPTIONS FOR CHANGE. 6/17-18/2024, HYBRID. Sponsor: American Enterprise Institute. Speakers Include: Kimberly S. Blanchard, Law Office of Kimberly S. Blanchard, P.C.; Kara L. Mungovan, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell; David G. Noren, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery; Paul W. Oosterhuis, Of Counsel, Skadden; John Bates, Principal, Deloitte; George Callas, Executive Vice President of Public Finance, Arnold Ventures; Chip Harter, Senior Policy Adviser (Ret.), Washington National Tax Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Michael J. Caballero, Partner, Covington & Burling; Ronald Dabrowski, Principal, KPMG; Layla J. Asali, Member, Miller & Chevalier; Paul W. Oosterhuis, Of Counsel, Skadden; Philip Wagman, Partner, Clifford Chance; Michael J. Caballero, Partner, Covington & Burling; Ronald Dabrowski, Principal, KPMG.

HOW DOES THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR END? A CONVERSATION WITH AMBASSADOR DAVID SATTERFIELD. 6/17, 10:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Ambassador David M. Satterfield, director, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Aaron David Miller, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE WASHINGTON SUMMIT: A CONVERSATION WITH NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG. 6/17, 11:00am-Noon (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Ambassador Mark A. Green, President, CEO, Wilson Center; Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General, NATO; Philip Reeker, Chair, Global Europe Program, Albright Stonebridge Group, Department of State.

IRAQ AND THE UNITED STATES: RETURN TO THE STATUS QUO OR CALM BEFORE THE STORM? 6/17, 2:00-3:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy. Speakers: Sajad Jiyad, Fellow, Century International, Director, Shia Politics Working Group; Simona Foltyn, Independent Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker based in the Middle East; Mohammed Shummary, Professor, Al-Nahrain University, College of Political Science, Baghdad, Chairman, Sumeria Foundation for International Affairs; Steven Simon, Professor of Practice, Middle East Studies, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies of the University of Washington, Senior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute; Adam Weinstein, Research Fellow, Quincy Institute.

UKRAINE ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT. 6/17, 3:00pm (CEST), 9:00am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: International Crisis Group (ICG). Speakers: Alissa de Carbonnel, Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia Program, ICG; Richard Gowan, UN Director, ICG; Simon Schlegel, Senior Analyst, Ukraine, ICG; Oleg Ignatov, Senior Analyst, Russia, ICG. 

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IS UNDER THREAT. HOW DO WE PROTECT IT? 6/17, 10:00-11:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: William A. Galston, Ezra K. Zilkha Chair, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings; Vanessa Williamson, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings; Steven R. Levitsky, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Co-author, "How Democracies Die".

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: A LONG-RUN VIEW OF GLOBALIZATION. 6/17, 1:00-2:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Peterson Institute for International Economics. Speaker: Christopher M. Meissner, Professor of Economics, University of California, Davis, Author of One from the Many: The Global Economy Since 1850.

IRAN RAMPS UP ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM. 6/17, 2:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). Speakers: Jonathan Ruhe, Director of Foreign Policy, JINSA; Gabriel Noronha, Fellow, JINSA, Former Special Advisor, Iran Action Group, U.S. Department of State.

REPORT RELEASE: DETERRING CHINA THROUGH NONMILITARY COSTS TO PRESERVE PEACE IN THE TAIWAN STRAIT. 6/17, 3:00-4:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson. Speakers: John Lee, Senior Fellow, Hudson; Thomas J. Duesterberg, Senior Fellow, Hudson. REPORT.  

A COMPARISON ON GENDER REPRESENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS IN JAPAN AND THE UK. 6/17, 6:45pm (BST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Japan Society UK. Speaker: Liliana Harding, Associate Professor, Economics, University of East Anglia.