Should the US Embrace or Reject Engagement with China?

October 20, 2022

Podcast Deep Dish on Global Affairs Podcast

Paul Heer joins Deep Dish to argue that engagement is necessary in shaping the US-China relationship.

Speaker Pelosi and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen meet in Taipei, Taiwan on August 3, 2022.

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About the Episode

This week, the Chinese Communist Party hosts its twice-a-decade National Congress and President Xi Jinping is set to secure power for a third term. Nonresident Senior Fellow Paul Heer joins Deep Dish to argue the importance of engagement with China as a necessary component of US foreign policy. If we do not pursue it, he says, we are missing opportunities for a more peaceful coexistence between both countries and the world.

This episode originally aired on August 4, 2022.

Reading List

The Next Taiwan Strait Crisis Has Arrived, Paul Heer, The National Interest, August 2, 2022
Engagement With China Has Not Failed, Paul Heer, The National Interest, July 14, 2022
Understanding U.S.-China Strategic Competition, Paul Heer, The National Interest, October 20, 2020

About the Experts

Paul Heer

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Lester Crown Center on US Foreign Policy

Prior to joining the Council as a nonresident fellow, Paul Heer served for 30 years as a specialist on East Asian affairs in the US intelligence community. He served on the staff of the President's daily brief and as a member of the senior analytic service at the CIA prior to becoming the national intelligence officer for East Asia, a position he held from 2007 to 2015.

Brian Hanson

Vice President, Studies

Brian Hanson is the Vice President of Studies at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He oversees the Council's research operations and hosts the Council's weekly podcast, Deep Dish on Global Affairs.

Elizabeth Shackelford

Senior Fellow, US Foreign Policy

Elizabeth Shackelford, a former career diplomat who served the US Mission to Somalia and the US Embassy in South Sudan, focuses on building awareness and understanding of a "restraint" approach to foreign policy, which seeks to limit the use of force to core US security interests and favors diplomatic engagement.