Speakers:

Wensheng Wang is Associate Professor of History at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His research focuses on political culture, particularly in late Imperial China.

Xiaojun Wang is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He has been working on recent labor market reforms in China.

Sungmin Cho is an Associate Professor in the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. His research interests include China-Korean relations, the US alliance in East Asia, and the domestic politics of China, Taiwan, and North Korea.

Wang Wensheng will discuss China’s post-reform economic globalization and development strategies (the so-called “China Model) from the perspectives of its two signature programs, by tracing their historical origins, internal logic, and structural patterns. He will touch on the traditional Silk Road and Chinese ways of thinking about the world, and expand to the core of the “Made in China 2025” initiative and how it affects Sino-American relations.

Wang Xiaojun will talk about China’s post-reform economic development and how it has lead, somewhat naturally, to the two new initiatives (i.e. OBOR and Made in China 2025). He will focus on internal and external pressures on the reorientation of the vast Chinese economy, and also touch upon opportunities other countries (including the U.S.) may see in these new initiatives and how they can take advantage of them.

Sungmin Cho will talk about how Western powers perceive the strategic intent and impact of OBOR—it is part of China’s grand strategy to expand its global influence and to spread the Chinese model of governance, especially through the building of the Digital Silk Road. He will discuss why this perceptional gap between the West and China has emerged, as well as how it affects international politics.

Co-Sponsors:

the UH Departments of History and Political Science

the Daniel K. Inouye Asian-Pacific Center of Security Studies