Join us on Thursday, June 6, 2024 for a discussion on the state of U.S.-China relations with Ambassador Nicholas Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, presented by the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy. Ambassador Burns will give remarks, and then converse with Orville Schell, Vice President and Arthur Ross Director of the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations.

Nicholas Burns is Ambassador of the United States of America to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  Nominated by President Biden, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021. Prior to serving as Ambassador to the PRC, Ambassador Burns was Goodman Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (2008-2021) where he founded the school’s Future of Diplomacy Project. Ambassador Burns has had a long career in American diplomacy, serving six Presidents and nine Secretaries of State. As a career Foreign Service Officer, he was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2008), when he led numerous negotiations, including on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Deal, a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel, and on Iran’s nuclear program.

As Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), he led U.S. efforts in Brussels on 9/11 when the Alliance invoked Article 5 of the NATO Treaty for the first time in its history.  He managed the combined State-Defense Department U.S. Mission when NATO accepted seven new members in Eastern Europe and embarked on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He was Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and, prior to that, served as State Department Spokesperson (1995-1997). Ambassador Burns worked on the National Security Council at the White House (1990-1995), where he was Special Assistant to President Clinton and Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Director for Soviet Affairs for President George H.W. Bush during the collapse of the USSR.

Orville Schell is Vice President and Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, and a former dean of the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism. Schell is the author of fifteen books, ten of them about China, and a contributor to numerous edited volumes.