A Talk: The Resilience of China’s Political System

Lessons from China’s Engagement with the West

a talk by Dr. Sungmin Cho
of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies

Monday, April 8, 12pm
Moore Hall 319
(Tokioka Room)

In March 2018, Xi Jinping removed the term limits on his presidency of China. Many in the West took this as a sign of the failure of Western engagement. But evidence shows that China has been more open to Western programs that promote democracy than other authoritarian countries like Russia and Iran. Why?

In this talk, Dr. Sungmin Cho will examine how Chinese authorities have collaborated with Western organizations since the early 1990s to develop China’s rule of law, village electoral system, and practices of good governance and civil society. He will explain the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic motivation and its intended effects, and discuss the implications for the future of Chinese politics and US policy toward China. His counterintuitive findings contribute to scholarly discussions of democratization and authoritarian resilience in comparative politics.

Dr. Sungmin Cho is Associate Professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, specializing in the politics of China and North Korea. Originally from South Korea, he holds an M.A. in International Relations from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown.