China at the UN General Assembly: How to Read Beijing's New Proposal on Global Governance
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWith Beijing's major proposal last week on the "reform and development of global governance," all eyes will be on China as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicks off in the coming days. The proposal was sweeping in its scope, calling on the international community to adopt more equitable and multilateral solutions in relation to global and regional security, development, tolerance of different political, social, and cultural systems, and managing the emergence of new technologies such as artificial intelligence. It also levels some harsh criticism for a "certain country" (understood to be the United States) for its bullying and hegemonic behavior that impedes progress on stability and development.
What is behind this proposal? How will key elements of the proposal such as the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Development Initiative (GDI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) work in practice? And what can we expect from China at the United Nations (UN) and in the Global South — two of the proposal's principal targets — as it seeks to advance these ideas internationally?
To address these questions, the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis will host a webinar featuring three leading experts: Bates Gill, Executive Director, Center for China Analysis; Courtney Fung, Scholar in Residence, Asia Society Australia, and Associate Professor, Macquarie University: and Taylah Bland, Schwarzman Fellow, Center for China Analysis.
SPEAKERS
Bates Gill (moderator) is Executive Director of Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis where he leads a team of research fellows, associated researchers, and administrative staff to deliver on the Center’s aim to be a global leader for policy-relevant, objective analysis of China’s politics, economy, and society and its impact on Asia and the world. Prior to joining the Asia Society, Bates held a number of research and academic leadership positions in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and United States. Most recently, he was professor and chair of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney and was also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence with the Asia Society Australia. In other previous roles, he served as director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as founding director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.
Courtney J. Fung is Associate Professor in the Department of Security Studies & Criminology at Macquarie University. She is concurrently Scholar in Residence at the Asia Society Australia, Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University and Associate Fellow at the Lowy Institute. She studies how rising powers address the norms and provisions for global governance and international security, with a primary focus on China. She has a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, and will be a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University in spring 2024 through the DFAT-funded Professional Scholarship in Australian-American Alliance Studies.
Taylah Bland is the Schwarzman Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. She joins CCA having spent the last five years studying and working in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Most recently, Taylah worked with the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing as an Industry and Social Policy Research Associate. In this role, she focused primarily on analyzing China from legal, political, and social perspectives and formulated these findings into Chamber publications and advisory briefs. Taylah has a special interest in international environmental law culminating in her master's thesis: “A Comparative Exploration of China’s Domestic Policy Reflecting the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement”. At CCA, Taylah hopes to further her work in climate and sustainability whilst also working to identity new accountability structures to underpin bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Event Details