Friday, July 19, 2019

Think Tankers Divide Themselves on China and Trump

Here is more from Reuters:
Scores of Asia specialists, including former U.S. diplomats and military officers, want President Donald Trump to rethink policies that “treat China as an enemy,” warning the approach could hurt U.S. interests and the global economy, according to a draft open letter reviewed by Reuters on Saturday.
The letter recently appeared in the Washington Post.  Signatories from the think tank world include:

  • James Acton, co-director, Nuclear Policy Program and Jessica T. Mathews Chair, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Andrew Bacevich, co-founder, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
  • Jeffrey A. Bader, former senior director for East Asia on National Security Council 2009-2011 and fellow, Brookings Institution
  • C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow and director emeritus, Peterson Institute for International Economics
  • Richard Bush, Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies, Brookings Institution
  • Toby Dalton, co-director, Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Robert Daly, director, Kissinger Institute on China and the U.S., Wilson Center
  • David Dollar, senior fellow, Brookings Institution
  • Robert Einhorn, senior fellow, Brookings Institution; former assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, 1999-2001
  • David F. Gordon, senior advisor, International Institute of Strategic Studies; former director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department, 2007-2009
  • Philip H. Gordon, Mary and David Boies Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations
  • Lee Hamilton, former congressman; former president and director of the Wilson Center
  • Yukon Huang, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Marvin Kalb, nonresident senior fellow, Brookings Institution
  • Charles Kupchan, professor of International Affairs, Georgetown University; senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Nicholas Lardy, Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
  • Chung Min Lee, senior fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Cheng Li, director and senior fellow, John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution
  • Jessica Mathews, distinguished fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Alice Lyman Miller, research fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
  • Moises Naim, distinguished fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Douglas Paal, distinguished fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Jonathan D. Pollack, nonresident senior fellow, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution
  • Richard Sokolsky, nonresident senior fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Graham Webster, coordinating editor, Stanford-New America DigiChina Project

In response, an open letter was written by China scholars who support President Trump's China policy.  Here is more from Free Beacon:

An open letter to President Trump urged the president to stay the course on dealing with the Chinese government, which the letter states is in opposition to the values and strategic interests of the United States.
The letter was written by retired Navy Captain James E. Fanell, a former director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The letter is a response to an open letter published by the Washington Post on July 3 titled "China is not an enemy."
Fanell's letter has 130 signatories, including veterans and former U.S. military officials, scholars and professors, think tank members, and other China watchers.

Think tankers who have signed that letter include Ian Easton and Mark Stokes of Project 2049 Institute, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, and John Tkacik of the International Assessment and Strategy Center.