On the Record: Kevin Rudd Discusses the Future of U.S.-China Relations
In U.S.-China 21: The Future of U.S.-China Relations Under Xi Jinping, ASPI President Kevin Rudd examines key questions about how China’s rise might affect its relationship with the United States and its role in world affairs. In the videos and writings below, Rudd discusses China’s economic growth, the perceptions that the United States and China have of one another, regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, and other factors affecting engagement between the two superpowers.
Op-Eds
June 12, 2015 — Kevin Rudd’s cover story for The World Today, the bimonthly magazine published by Chatham House, argues that the rules-based global order that has existed since 1945 is changing and asked whether the United States and a rising China will work together or against each other to reform it.
May 7, 2015 — In an essay for Foreign Policy, Kevin Rudd challenges the idea that the U.S. and China “are now locked into some sort of irreversible and increasingly fractious zero-sum game” and argues that the two countries need a “common strategic narrative that is capable of embracing both fundamental disagreements and substantive cooperation.”
April 20, 2015 — Kevin Rudd publishes key conclusions from his report U.S.-China 21 in his Huffington Post column “How to Break the ‘Mutually Assured Misperception’ Between the U.S. and China.”
April 17, 2015 — Writing for the magazine of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Kevin Rudd makes the case that joint ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty by the U.S. and China would “constitute a major confidence and security building measure” that “could build broader habits of cooperation” between the two countries.
April 16, 2015 — “The future of the U.S.-China relationship is not predetermined. It is for the two countries’ leaders to shape.” In a Financial Times op-ed, Kevin Rudd argues that China and the U.S. need “a shared view of how the two powers should coexist” in order to “prevent the relationship deteriorating into a long and mutually costly period of rancour, crisis, or even conflict.”
April 16, 2015 — Kevin Rudd’s profile of President Xi Jinping for the “100 Most Influential People” list looks at Xi’s leadership style and its influence on China’s global standing: “His success matters for his nation and the world. China will be the dominant economic power in Asia, and it will seek to translate that power, through an activist foreign policy, into geopolitical influence and a new global order.”
April 14, 2015 — “We are seeing the emergence of an asymmetric world in which the fulcrums of economic and military power are no longer co-located, but, in fact, are beginning to diverge significantly,” writes Kevin Rudd in an op-ed for the Australian Financial Review.
Mentions and Quotes
May 12, 2015 — David E. Sanger and Edward Wong cite Kevin Rudd’s report U.S.-China 21 and Foreign Policy essay in a story about how China and the United States are using trade pacts and economic diplomacy to vie for global influence.
April 27, 2015 — U.S.-China 21 is cited in a “China RealTime” column about how the U.S. should press Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to defuse tensions surrounding Japan’s treatment of its wartime history.
April 23, 2015 — U.S.-China 21 is summarized and quoted in a CNN article about how China and the United States can manage China’s rise under Xi Jinping.
April 14, 2015 — An Australian Financial Review article describes the findings and conclusions from Kevin Rudd’s report U.S.-China 21.
Interviews: Television and Radio
April 20, 2015 — Kevin Rudd discusses the global influence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the U.S.-China relationship on “Here and Now” from public radio station WBUR.
April 17, 2015 — Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Kevin Rudd says that China’s economy is in transition while sharing his perspective on China’s economic outlook and new growth model.
April 17, 2015 — On Bloomberg TV’s “Bloomberg Surveillance,” Kevin Rudd discusses U.S.-China relations and the impact of iron ore prices on Australia’s economy.
Lectures and Discussions
June 1, 2015 — Speaking at the London School of Economics for the Ralph Miliband Programme, one of the LSE’s most prestigious lecture series, Kevin Rudd drew on his his high-level political insights and personal expertise to discuss the rise of China, the enduring influence of the United States and the changing balance of power in the Pacific.
April 17, 2015 — The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted Kevin Rudd, Distinguished Statesman at CSIS, for remarks and a discussion on alternative futures for the U.S.-China relationship. Christopher K. Johnson, Senior Adviser and Freeman Chair in China Studies, CSIS, moderated the discussion. Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, President, The Scowcroft Group, Inc. and Counselor and Trustee, CSIS, made opening remarks.
April 16, 2015 — For an AsiaConnect briefing from the Asia Society Policy Institute, Kevin Rudd discussed his positive outlook for China’s economic reform program and growth trajectory, Xi Jinping’s blueprint for the political economy of China, and the strategic perceptions that the U.S. and China have about one another.
April 15, 2015 — Kevin Rudd delivers the Foreign Policy Association’s C.V. Starr Distinguished Lecture on U.S.-China Relations, presented in conjunction with the Asia Society Policy Institute.
April 13, 2015 — Kevin Rudd; Anthony Saich, Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; and Meghan L. O’Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, joined Graham Allison, Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for a discussion on the future of U.S.-China relations at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.