On December 15, 2021, Asia Society Northern California hosted an off-the-record Executive Roundtable program and seventh program in our Seeking Truth Through Facts U.S.-China Program Series on Cold War Lessons for U.S.-China Ties Today with Ambassador Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia.  Topics discussed included key policies that U.S. policymakers will need to readopt against significant challenges by the Chinese government that will require creative strategic thinking, what will the future of U.S.-China diplomatic relations result in a Biden Administration, and will the new administration be able to create a relationship of sustained confrontation and cooperation, containment and engagement, or of isolation and integration? Jonathan Ward, founder and president of the Atlas Organization. moderated the discussion. 

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Ambassador Michael McFaul

Michael McFaul is Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995.

Dr. McFaul also is as an International Affairs Analyst for NBC News and a columnist for The Washington Post. He served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014).

He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. Earlier books include Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should, How We Can; Transitions To Democracy: A Comparative Perspective (eds. with Kathryn Stoner); Power and Purpose: American Policy toward Russia after the Cold War (with James Goldgeier); and Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin.

Jonathan Ward (moderator)

Dr. Jonathan D. T.  Ward is the author of China’s Vision of Victory, a handbook to the global strategy of the Chinese Communist Party which utilizes numerous primary documents to explain their near and long-term vision in their own words. Dr. Ward is an internationally recognized expert on Chinese global strategy and U.S.-China competition. He earned his PhD in China-India relations at the University of Oxford and his undergraduate degree at Columbia University where he studied the Russian and Chinese languages. 

His book on the global strategy of the Chinese Communist Party has been widely read by audiences in U.S. government and industry. Dr. Ward’s experience in Asia includes traveling across Tibet in truck caravans, crossing the South China Sea by cargo ship, and gaining access to Communist Party diplomatic archives in Beijing which have now been closed to the world. Dr. Ward lived and traveled globally for over a decade in China, India, Russia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. He speaks Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. He has consulted for the U.S. Department of Defense on Chinese long-term strategy and for leading Fortune 500 corporations on U.S.-China global competition. Dr. Ward has briefed numerous government agencies as well as leading American companies in the defense, aerospace, technology, financial services, telecommunications, automotive, and industrial sectors on Chinese strategy and U.S.-China competition. His company, Atlas Organization, works with global firms in key strategic industries, building a multi-sector understanding of U.S.-China competition and risk. He is a frequently invited speaker for government, military, business, and financial audiences. Dr. Ward’s commentary on Chinese grand strategy and on U.S.-China relations has been featured in numerous media outlets including CNBC, Fox Business, Fox, MSNBC, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, Forbes, The Street, Newsweek, National Review and The National Interest.