Whatever the likelihood or implications of a potential truce in the US-China trade war, it seems clear that the overall relationship between the two countries has lately entered into a new, more harder-edged phase, defined by competition and perhaps even conflict in multiple areas: economic, technological, ideological, strategic, and conceivably military as well. In the United States, heated debates over US-China relations look not just to the present or future, but reach back to past attitudes and choices as well, even questioning the basic wisdom of the past 40 years of engagement with China in the first place. In this episode, Neysun Mahboubi discusses with Brookings fellow, and former Obama White House official, Ryan Hass the present landscape in US-China relations, how it has been shaped by prior US and Chinese administrations, and what the current administrations' respective approaches may deliver. The episode was recorded on May 2, 2019.

Ryan Hass is a fellow and the Michael H. Armacost Chair in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he holds joint appointments to the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies. He is also a non-resident fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. From 2013 to 2017, he served as Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council, under President Obama. Previously, Hass served as a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where he earned the State Department Director General's Award for Impact and Originality in Reporting. He also has served at the U.S. Embassies in Seoul and in Ulaanbaatar, and domestically in the State Department's Offices of Taiwan Coordination and Korean Affairs, respectively. He received multiple Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor commendations during his 15-year tenure in the Foreign Service. At Brookings, Hass focuses his research and writing on enhancing policy development on the pressing political, economic, and security challenges facing the United States in East Asia. You can follow him @ryanl_hass.

Sound engineering: Shani Aviram and Neysun Mahboubi

Music credit: "Salt" by Poppy Ackroyd, follow her at http://poppyackroyd.com

Unpacking the Present Crisis in US-China Relations – Ryan Hass