Amidst the aftermath of a profoundly disruptive pandemic and a transformed geopolitical landscape, what progress has been made regarding the legal developments announced at China’s "Rule of Law Plenum" in 2014? Join the China Program at APARC for a presentation by Neysun Mahboubi, informed by extensive fieldwork, on judicial and administrative law developments in the decade since the Fourth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress and its promise to “comprehensively advance the rule of law.”

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Neysun Mahboubi is the Director of the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches various courses related to Chinese history, law, and policy. Previously he was a Research Scholar of Penn’s Center for the Study of Contemporary China ("CSCC"), and he continues to host the CSCC Podcast. His current writing focuses on the development of modern Chinese administrative law.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, marking a significant milestone for a project that has attracted international attention and scrutiny. While much discussion about the BRI revolves around China's infrastructure loans in the Global South and its nascent development bank, the AIIB, it is still unclear how the BRI is engaged with China's broader trade strategy. This session will take a deeper look into the trade implications of the BRI and make a broader examination of its impact on global commerce dynamics since its founding ten years ago. Join our panelists Jessica Liao and Laura Stone as they ask: What is the essence of China’s 21st-century trade strategy, and how does the BRI factor into this vision?

Jessica C. Liao is an associate professor of political science and 2020-2021 Wilson China Fellow. She spent the past two and a half years in Beijing and throughout 2022, served as an economic development specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing where she covered China’s relations with Belt and Road Initiative countries. Prior to NC State, she taught at George Washington University and was a visit fellow at Monash University, Kuala Lumpur campus. She received her PhD in international relations from the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and East Asian politics.

Laura Stone, a member of the U.S. Department of State, is the Inaugural China Policy Fellow (2022-24) at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC). She was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia, the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, and the Director of the Economic Policy Office in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She served in Hanoi, Beijing, Bangkok, Tokyo, the Public Affairs Bureau, the Pentagon Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. While at APARC, she is conducting research with the China Program on contemporary China affairs and U.S.-China policy.

As part of Stanford's Asia Pacific Research Center (APARC) event series focused on APEC 2023, the China Program is pleased to present the concluding session, 'The Future of Multilateral Institutions in the Era of Great Power Competition.' We invite you to join us for this session, where we will delve into how the U.S., China, and other APEC members are adapting and evolving their strategies for engaging within international organizations. We’ll also cast a spotlight on the outcomes of APEC 2023 and their implications for understanding how multilateral institutions are adjusting to the challenges of an era marked by geopolitical rivalry.

This event is part of the series Exploring APEC’s Role in Facilitating Regional Cooperation.

Matthew P. Goodman is distinguished fellow for global economic policy and director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He leads a cross-cutting program on global economics at CFR that works to develop new approaches to trade and other international economic policies. Prior to joining CFR in September 2023, Goodman was senior vice president for economics and Simon chair in political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). From 2010 to 2012, he served as director for international economics on the National Security Council staff, helping the U.S. president prepare for global and regional summits, including for the Group of 20, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and East Asia Summit. Prior to serving in the White House, he was senior advisor to the undersecretary for economic affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Before joining the Barack Obama administration in 2009, Goodman worked for five years at Albright Stonebridge Group, where he was managing director for Asia. From 2002 to 2004, he served at the White House as director for Asian economic affairs on the National Security Council staff. Prior to that, he spent five years at Goldman Sachs, heading the bank’s government affairs operations in Tokyo and London. From 1988 to 1997, he worked as an international economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, including five years as financial attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. Goodman holds a BSc in economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Michael McFaul is Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. Dr. McFaul also is as an International Affairs Analyst for NBC News and a columnist for The Washington Post. He served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014). He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. Earlier books include Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should, How We Can; Transitions To Democracy: A Comparative Perspective (eds. with Kathryn Stoner); Power and Purpose: American Policy toward Russia after the Cold War (with James Goldgeier); and Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin. His current research interests include American foreign policy, great power relations, and the relationship between democracy and development. Dr. McFaul was born and raised in Montana. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Soviet and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed his D. Phil. in International Relations at Oxford University in 1991.

Laura Stone, a member of the US Department of State, is the Inaugural China Policy Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC).  She was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia, the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, and the Director of the Economic Policy Office in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She served in Beijing, Bangkok, Tokyo, the Public Affairs Bureau, the Pentagon Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. While at APARC, she is conducting research with the China Program on contemporary China affairs and U.S.-China policy.

This event is part of the series Exploring APEC’s Role in Facilitating Regional Cooperation.

Energy is essential for economic development, but energy use is a major contributor to global warming.  Most can agree that transition from fossil fuels to sustainable (green) energy is imperative for long-term sustainability, but how to make that transition while maintaining and increasing growth and prosperity is not self-evident.  This panel will examine energy challenges in general, how they play out and are perceived in the APEC region, and how APEC has attempted to find cooperative solutions.

Panelists:
 

Larry Goulder, Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics, Director of the Stanford Center for Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Precourt Institute for the Environment, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and a University Fellow of Resources of the Future

Lawrence H. Goulder is the Shuzo Nishihara Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Center for Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Precourt Institute for the Environment, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and a University Fellow of Resources for the Future. Goulder's research covers a range of environmental issues, including green tax reform, the design of environmental tax systems and emissions trading policies, climate change policy, and comprehensive wealth measurement ("green" accounting). He has served on several advisory committees to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board and the California Air Resources Board, and as co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Larry Greenwood, Chairman of the Board of the Japan Society of Northern California, Senior Adviser at BowerGroupAsia, US Ambassador to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group from 2000-2003

Larry Greenwood is Senior Adviser at BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Asia-Pacific.  He is also Chair of the Japan Society of Northern California after serving as its President from 2016-2020.  From 2011-2015, Larry was Senior Managing Director for Government Relations in Asia for MetLife based in Tokyo responsible for shaping insurance policies and regulations in Asia and from 2006-2011 was Vice President at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines where he oversaw ADB’s annual loan and grant operations of about $7 billion in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Island countries. 

Larry was a career diplomat from 1976-2006 where he worked on economic issues in the State Department in Washington, DC and at US Embassies in Manila, Dakar, Singapore and twice in Tokyo.  He served as US Ambassador to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group and retired as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Economic Bureau of the State Department where he was responsible for international financial and development matters. He holds a BA from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford Massachusetts.  He speaks and reads Japanese and French.

Gita Wirjawan, Former Minister of Trade and former Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board of the Republic of Indonesia, Founder of Ancora Group and Ancora Foundation, Visiting Scholar at Shorenstein APARC

Gita Wirjawan is a visiting scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University. He is the host of a Southeast Asia educational podcast called Endgame, a member of the Board of Governors of the Asia School of Business (MIT Sloan), a member of the international council of the Yale School of Management, and chairman of the Advisory Board of the School of Government and Public Policy (SGPP) Indonesia. While as chairman of Ancora Group, a business group based in Indonesia, he is also a partner at Ikhlas Capital, a Singapore-based Southeast Asia private equity fund. He is also an adviser to a number of Southeast Asia-based venture capital firms, including Alpha JWC Ventures, Monk's Hill Ventures, Jungle Ventures, and Intudo Ventures. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of Chubb. Previously, he was trade minister and chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board of the Republic of Indonesia during the years 2009–2014, a banker at JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citibank, and a public accountant. He received his MPA at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, MBA at Baylor University, and BBA at the University of Texas, Austin.

Moderator:

Thomas Fingar, Fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, former U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis, Director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific, and Chief of the China Division, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis, and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis and, concurrently, as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Previous positions include Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-2001 and 2004-2005), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (2001-2003), and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis (1994-2000). Dr. Fingar is a graduate of Cornell University (A.B. in Government and History, 1968), and Stanford University (M.A., 1969 and Ph.D., 1977 both in Political Science).  Recent books include Reducing Uncertainty:  Intelligence Analysis and National Security (Stanford University Press, 2011), Fateful Decisions: Choices that will Shape China’s Future (edited with Jean Oi, Stanford, 2020); and From Mandate to Blueprint: Lessons from Intelligence Reform (Stanford University Press, 2021).

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This event is part of the series Exploring APEC’s Role in Facilitating Regional Cooperation.

Digital health technologies hold great promise to strengthen health systems in the Asia-Pacific region and provide affordable access for remote and vulnerable populations. But what is the evidence about how digital health initiatives work in practice in low resource settings? What incentive structures and provider skillsets are needed to improve health equity, health service quality, and health system resilience at an affordable cost? What is the role of APEC in promoting these innovations while also addressing concerns about data privacy and security? This colloquium explores these questions with case studies from South and Southeast Asia. Our three expert speakers discuss how APEC members are actively experimenting with “innovative digital health solutions to increase access to, and delivery of, health services,” as highlighted in the Chair's Statement of the 13th APEC High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy. 

Panelists:

CK Cheruvettolil, Senior Strategy Officer, Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

CK Cheruvettolil is a Senior Strategy Officer on the Gates Foundation Artificial Intelligence Taskforce. He leads the deployment of AI solutions in Asia and works closely with governments, public health agencies and health service providers to identify and fund digital technologies that could have impact. CK has been at the Gates Foundation for 12 years in a variety of roles including financing and strategy for global vaccine development and disease surveillance. 
Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, CK spent 8-years as a consultant to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In this capacity, he played a crucial role in designing the technical framework for the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.

Kiran Gopal Vaska, Director of the National Health Authority of India

Mr. Kiran Gopal Vaska is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) currently working at the National Health Authority, New Delhi. In his earlier roles, he worked at various levels of government in the areas of power, rural development, health and family welfare, education, and industrial development, among others. As Managing Director of MP Eastern Zone Power Distribution Company, he led the digitization of the company including GIS mapping of the entire power network, introduction of smart meter technologies, and more. He led the development of an online single window system and was instrumental in Madhya Pradesh state ranking among the top 5 states in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in India for 2016. Before joining government service, he worked in the finance industry performing risk analytics for hedge funds and banks.

Moderator:

​​Dr. Siyan Yi, Assistant Professor and Director of Integrated Research Program at National University of Singapore; 2011-12 Developing Asia Health Policy Fellow, Shorenstein APARC

Dr. Yi is a medical doctor and an infectious disease epidemiologist by training. He received his PhD from the School of International Health of the University of Tokyo in Japan in 2010. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Health Policy Program, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center, Stanford University from 2011-2012. He is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Integrated Research Program at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. He also serves as Director of KHANA Center for Population Health Research in Cambodia and Adjunct Associate Professor at Touro University California, the United States. His implementation research program focuses on developing and evaluating community-based innovative interventions for improving access to prevention, treatment, and care services for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, and maternal and child health among vulnerable and marginalized populations in Southeast Asia.

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Ever since its informal beginnings in late 1989, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has been a central hub for economic engagement and cooperation around the Pacific Rim, both shaping and being shaped by developments in the region over an extraordinary period of trade and economic expansion.  As leaders from 21 APEC member economies prepare to meet in San Francisco in November, we will explore APEC's evolution over its three-decade-plus history to consider both its role and contributions in the Asia-Pacific region to date, as well as explore its challenges and relevance in the region going forward.  Is APEC still hitting its regional economic cooperation target and how might APEC better achieve its goals?

Speakers

Aida Safinaz Allias, Minister for Economic Affairs, Embassy of Malaysia to the United States; Former APEC Senior Official for Malaysia.

Ms. Aida Safinaz Allias currently serves as the Minister (Economic Affairs) at the Embassy of Malaysia in Washington, D.C. This is her second time in D.C., her first being during her intern days at the US-Asia Institute in DC circa the mid-90s.

She has served in the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) for 23 years, since the year 2000, starting at the Industry Wing in various capacities including with the iron & steel, E&E, and investment units, before crossing over to the Trade Wing at the Multilateral Trade Policy and Negotiations Division. Subsequently, she was posted to the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the WTO, Geneva, Switzerland as the Economic Counsellor in charge of Services trade negotiations from 2005-2007.

Following that, she returned to HQ and was posted at the FTA Coordination Division as the Principal Assistant Director (2007-2009). From 2011-2013, she gained her first experience in APEC work at the APEC Division in MITI as the Malaysian Lead at the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), during which she had the opportunity to serve as the Market Access Group (MAG) Convenor.

Pursuant to that she was again posted as Minister Counsellor (Economic Affairs) at the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi from 2013-2016. Later, she returned to MITI HQ as Director of the Services Sector Development Division before she was tasked to lead the Substantive Unit of the APEC 2020 National Secretariat in 2018 when it was established for the Malaysian hosting of APEC 2020. Ms. Allias was then promoted to Senior Director of APEC Division in 2019 (also overseeing the APEC 2020 National Secretariat, which was incidental to the successful hosting of APEC 2020). From 2019 - 2021, she also served as the Malaysian APEC Senior Official. During the hosting of APEC 2020, she led the Malaysian Delegation to the successful drafting and conclusion of many important consensus documents at APEC, the most notable being the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040.

She received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in International Relations from Syracuse University, New York. She also holds a Diploma in Public Administration from the Malaysian National Public Administration Institute (INTAN).

Amb. Kurt Tong, Managing Partner, The Asia Group; Former U.S. Ambassador for APEC; Former U.S. Consul General and Chief of Mission in Hong Kong and Macau.

Ambassador Kurt Tong is Managing Partner and member of the Executive Committee at The Asia Group, where he leads consulting teams focused on Japan, China, and Hong Kong, and on East Asia regional policy matters. He also leads the firm’s innovative thought leadership programs. A leading expert in diplomacy and economic affairs in East Asia, Ambassador Tong brings thirty years of experience in the Department of State as a career Foreign Service Officer and member of the Senior Foreign Service.

Moderator

Michael Beeman, Former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea and APEC at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Visiting Scholar at Shorenstein APARC.

Michael Beeman is a Visiting Scholar during 2023 at Shorenstein APARC. Previously, he served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and APEC at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). In that role, he led the renegotiation of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, among other initiatives. After joining the U.S. government in 1998, he served in various other capacities for the Department of Commerce, for the U.S. Executive Director to the World Bank, and for USTR. He received his D.Phil. (Ph.D.) in Politics from the University of Oxford in 1998 and is the author of Public Policy and Economic Competition in Japan (Routledge, 2002).

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The Asia-Pacific region has been a key driver of the globalization that has reshaped the world’s economic and political environment over the last decades.  Bi-lateral and multilateral trade arrangements, from GATT to WTO to TPP and RCEP, have been key components underpinning the rise in global trade that have propelled development of so many Asia-Pacific countries into middle-income countries and above.

However, generating enthusiasm in the United States and other wealthier nations for new trade deals and further economic opening has become more challenging.  By contrast, China has become increasingly active in proposing and developing bi-lateral and regional trade agreements with its neighbors.

Do these changes herald a new era for trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region? If so, how might future trade agreements be different?  How will global challenges like climate change, increasing nativism, digital services, and a changing political landscape affect and influence both the appetite for, and the shape of trade agreements in the region?  

Join Stanford’s China Program for a special conversation between Wendy Cutler, former diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and Gita Wirjawan, former Minister of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, moderated by Laura Stone, US Department of State and the Inaugural China Policy Fellow at the Asia Pacific Research Center.

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Wendy Cutler  is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world. 

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Gita Wirjawan is an educator and host of the podcast “Endgame.” He is a visiting scholar at the Walter Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University. He is also the founder and chairman of Ancora Group, a partner of Ikhlas Capital, a Southeast Asia focus private equity fund, and advisor to a number of Southeast Asia based venture capital firms. Previously, he served as Minister of Trade and Chairman of Investment Coordinating Board in the Indonesian government from 2009-2014.

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Laura Stone, a member of the US Department of State, is the Inaugural China Policy Fellow for the 2022-2023 academic year at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC). She was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia, the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, and the Director of the Economic Policy Office in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She served in Hanoi, Beijing, Bangkok, Tokyo, the Public Affairs Bureau, the Pentagon Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. While at APARC, she is conducting research with the China Program on contemporary China affairs and U.S.-China policy.