Each week, we'll share a variety of videos, articles, webcasts, and more from around the web — all curated by the Asia Society Texas Center staff to reflect the broad interests and goals of our mission. In this digest, explore Business and Policy topics through a selection of videos, podcasts, and articles.

Webcast: Beijing's Early Reactions to the Biden Administration

ASIA SOCIETY POLICY INSTITUTE, March 18, 2021  — The year 2020 was a pivotal one for U.S.–China relations, concluding a four-year rollercoaster ride for the world's most important bilateral relationship during the Trump administration. Now, with the Biden administration taking charge in Washington and quickly implementing its own take on U.S. strategy toward China, Beijing has begun assessing what the new administration means for the relationship and how to once again adjust course in 2021.

In this special webcast, Asia Society and ASPI President Kevin Rudd joins a conversation with Bill Bishop, author of the influential Sinocism China newsletter, and Susan Jakes, editor of ChinaFile and Senior Fellow at Asia Society's Center on U.S.–China Relations, on what happened in 2020 and where U.S.–China relations are likely headed in 2021. Rudd will begin the discussion with a keynote speech on Beijing's early reactions to the Biden administration.

Learn more about this program »

Video: The Fukushima Disaster 10 Years On: Lessons to Never Forget

ASIA SOCIETY NEW YORK AND JAPAN, March 1, 2021 — A panel of experts reflect on the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown that struck Japan in 2011 and assess how the country has changed in the years since. Participants include Yoichi Funabashi, chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative (API); Akihisa Shiozaki, partner at Nagashima Ohno and Tsunematsu and auditor at API; and Kazuto Suzuki, professor of science and technology at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo and senior consulting fellow at API. Daniel Russel, vice president of diplomacy and security at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) moderated the discussion, which also featured opening remarks from Asia Society Japan executive director Sawako Hidaka and closing remarks from Asia Society Northern California executive director Margaret Conley.

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Report: The Avoidable War

ASIA SOCIETY POLICY INSTITUTE, February 24, 2021 — ASPI's just-released report The Avoidable War: The Decade of Living Dangerously brings together a series of speeches and essays by Asia Society and ASPI President Kevin Rudd from over the course of 2020 that explore how the last year of the Trump administration fundamentally altered the direction of U.S.–China relations and world affairs.

Read the report »

Podcast: Asia In-Depth: Asian American Ghosts

January 14, 2021 — For over a century, Americans of Asian descent have occupied an in-between space on the country's racial spectrum — eluding simple definition in a society conditioned to viewing race in Black and white terms. This ambiguity came into stark relief in 2020. In the early spring, during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asians across the United States reported a disturbing rise in racist harassment and violent attacks. The Black Lives Matter protest movement triggered a nationwide discussion of race that led Asian Americans to reckon with who they are — and why they're here in America.

Jia Lynn Yang takes this topic head-on in "Asian American Ghosts," an article recently published in Asia Society Magazine, a new publication from Asia Society. She argues that this identity crisis faced by Asian Americans is an unintended consequence of the 1965 Immigration and Nationalization Act, a law that facilitated the arrival of millions of Asians to the United States — an outcome its sponsors did not intend.

Learn more about the podcast »

Business and Policy programs are endowed by Huffington Foundation. We give special thanks to Bank of America, Muffet Blake, Anne and Albert Chao, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Nancy Pollok Guinee, and United Airlines, Presenting Sponsors of Business and Policy programs; Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher, Presenting Sponsors of Exhibitions; Dr. Ellen R. Gritz and Milton D. Rosenau, Presenting Sponsors of Performing Arts and Culture; Wells Fargo, Presenting Sponsor of Education & Outreach; and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), Presenting Sponsor of the Japan Series. General support of programs and exhibitions is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Hearst Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, McKinsey & Company, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, Vinson & Elkins LLP, and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as Friends of Asia Society.

About Asia Society at Home

We are dedicated to continuing our mission of building cross-cultural understanding and uplifting human connectivity. Using digital tools, we bring you content for all ages and conversations that matter, in order to spark curiosity about Asia and to foster empathy.

About Asia Society Texas Center

With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.