Dear Friends,
How can America better strengthen itself for strategic competition with China? This was on our minds as we watched the juxtaposition of China’s performance at this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and America's at the United Nations General Assembly annual gathering.
But first, a hearty welcome to two new scholars:
- Jeffrey Prescott joins us as a Visiting Scholar. Jeff most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. agencies for food and agriculture and previously held senior White House and NSC roles focused on the Middle East and Asia.
- Cecily Brewer joins us as a Nonresident Scholar. She will be working on the role of negotiation in American statecraft, drawing on deep experience as a White House and State Department official.
Strategic Competition with China:
- In Just Security, Afreen Akhter unpacks the stakes of the fast-approaching U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) reauthorization. She argues that the DFC, if empowered and streamlined, could serve as a powerful engine of U.S. industrial policy, helping the United States shape supply chains, fuel innovation, and compete globally.
- In Foreign Affairs, Jeff Prescott explains China’s ambitious attempt to project its global leadership capacities—an ambition that was on full display at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
- In the latest episode of the Pivotal States podcast, I spoke to Ely Ratner, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, about his proposal for a multilateral alliance in the Pacific.
Former CIA Director Bill Burns returns to Carnegie, Congressional Black Caucus foreign policy, and the limits of U.S. power in Ukraine:
- Aaron David Miller sat down with William J. Burns, former director of the CIA and former president of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. They discussed his decades of public service, national security challenges ahead, and what defines effective U.S. leadership.
- Christopher Shell reflected on lessons from Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) foreign policy leadership, explaining how figures like Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee helped open space for principled dissent and democratic accountability.
- In a new episode of Pivotal States, Hard Limits: Testing U.S. Power in Ukraine, Tom Wright and I dove deep on the past, future, and limits of U.S. strategy in Ukraine. (To drop later this week.)
Coming soon!
We make the case for a constructive and realistic approach to America’s alliances in a new Carnegie Endowment report, Legacy or Liability? Auditing U.S. Alliances for Competition with China.
We analyzed how Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and the United Kingdom can help the United States in strategic competition with China across eight key issue areas.
I can’t wait to share our findings shortly and hear your thoughts. We love getting emails from you and comments of any kind.
Wishing you a healthy and productive fall,
Chris Chivvis
Senior Fellow and Director of the American Statecraft Program
WHAT WE'RE READING. . .
- First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World
-Emma Ashford-
Yale University Press - Will a TikTok Truce Save US-China Relations?
-Jake Werner-
Responsible Statecraft - The Wrong Way to Fight the Cartels
-Ryan C. Berg, Daniel Byman, Iselin Brady, Riley McCabe, Alexander Palmer, Henry Ziemer-
Foreign Affairs