Drawing on decades of experience at the center of U.S. policy toward China, Mark Lambert, former State Department China Coordinator and recently appointed China Policy Fellow at Stanford’s Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), and Ambassador Laura Stone, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China and Mongolia and currently affiliated with Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies, offer an insider’s assessment of the Trump-Xi state visit and its implications for U.S.-China relations.

Lambert and Stone will examine what Washington and Beijing each sought from the visit, what the two leaders actually achieved, and what the agreements, rhetoric, and notable omissions reveal about the state of the relationship. They will assess the implications for trade and economic ties, Taiwan and regional security, strategic competition, and the prospects for managing tensions between the world’s two most powerful countries. Please join us for a candid discussion of what the state visit changed, what it did not, and where U.S.-China relations may be headed next.

Speakers: 

Mark Lambert is the China Policy Fellow at Stanford University’s Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). A career U.S. diplomat and one of the State Department’s leading China experts, he most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China and Taiwan and as the Department’s China Coordinator. Over the course of his Foreign Service career, Lambert held senior positions focused on China, East Asia, and international organizations, including multiple assignments in Beijing. He also served as a senior advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, where his work focused on China’s role in the United Nations and other multilateral institutions.

Ambassador Laura Stone is affiliated with Stanford University’s Center for East Asian Studies. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Previously, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for China and Mongolia, with responsibility for managing U.S.-China relations during the Obama and first Trump administrations, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia. Her other senior positions include Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, Director of the State Department’s Office of Economic Policy in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Economic Counselor in Hanoi. She served three tours at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and has spent more than three decades working on U.S. policy toward China and the Indo-Pacific.

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In Illiberal Law and Development, Susan H. Whiting advances institutional economic theory with original survey and fieldwork data, addressing two puzzles in Chinese political economy: how economic development has occurred despite insecure property rights and weak rule of law and how the Chinese state has maintained political control amid unrest. Whiting answers these questions by focusing on the role of illiberal law in reassigning property rights and redirecting grievances. The book reveals that, in the context of technological change, a legal system that facilitates reassignment of land rights to higher-value uses plays an important and under-theorized role in promoting economic development. This system simultaneously represses conflict and asserts legitimacy. Comparing China to post-Glorious Revolution England and contemporary India, Whiting presents a critical new argument that brings the Chinese case more directly into debates in comparative politics about the role of the state in specifying property rights and maintaining authoritarian rule.

Speaker: Susan H. Whiting is Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. She is the author of Illiberal Law and Development: Property Rights and Conflict over Land in China (2026) and Power and Wealth in Rural China: The Political Economy of Institutional Change (2001), both published by Cambridge University Press. Her research on property rights, state capacity, “rule of law,” economic development, and civil society in China has been published in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Studies in Comparative International Development, China Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, and Voluntas, as well as in edited volumes such as Holding China Together and Trust and Governance, among others. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale University. At the University of Washington, she also holds adjunct appointments in the School of Law and the Jackson School of International Studies.  

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Generative AI is fast becoming the first-place people turn for expert advice. The advice it provides can be directional rather than neutral, shaped in part by the choices of its designers and regulators. When clients consult AI before meeting an expert, they carry this directional advice into a relationship that once rested on the expert’s judgment alone. We study its consequences in healthcare through a large-scale preregistered field experiment at a Chinese hospital, where we randomize patients’ access to an AI chatbot before their outpatient visit. Examination of the conversation logs shows that the chatbot routinely cautions against the use of medications, especially Traditional Chinese Medicine and antibiotics, while issuing clean recommendations for diagnostic testing, consistent with the liability-driven guardrails encoded in AI training. This directionality propagates into clinical practice. Prescription rates decline among treated patients while diagnostic testing increases, and these effects are more pronounced among physicians who are receptive to patient input and those with more intensive prescribing styles. Beyond shifting healthcare utilization, survey results show that AI access reduces patient compliance and satisfaction, shifting the balance of authority between patients and physicians.

Speaker: Lingsheng Meng is a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI). His research interests are in the fields of labor economics, development economics, and public economics. So far, the bulk of his work is highly empirical and concerned with six main areas: (1) social mobility; (2) inequality; (3) gender disparities; (4) the role of government; (5) political connections; (5) higher education; (6) the US-China trade war. His work appeared in the Journal of Public Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Development Economics, and other peer-reviewed journals. Lingsheng received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2010, an M.Phil. in Economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2004, and a B.A. in Economics and Thai from Peking University in 2002. Before joining Stanford, he taught at Tsinghua University from 2010 to 2017 and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022.

Conventional wisdom holds that banking markets flourish where property rights are secure, the rule of law is strong, and the state keeps its hands off. China has none of these. Yet over the past three decades, the number of Chinese banks grew exponentially, and competition became fierce. Why? In Authoritarian Markets: The Politics of China’s Banking Explosion (Cornell University Press, 2026), Adam Y. Liu argues that China’s banking market grew not despite authoritarian rule but because of it. The banking sector, he argues, is a market of the state, by the state, and for the state. Drawing on a decade of fieldwork and an extensive array of original data, Liu uncovers the political logic of banking market development in China and authoritarian states more broadly and explores what this means for the future of China’s economy.

Speaker: Adam Y. Liu is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Chinese politics and political economy. He earned his PhD from Stanford University, where his dissertation on the politics of China's banking development won the 2020 BRICS Economic Research Award.

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During Stanford’s “Health AI” week, join experts from Korea, China, and Singapore to learn about applications of AI supporting healthy aging in Asia. The webinar will explore the promise of health AI for enabling everyone to enjoy healthy aging to avoid or postpone institutionalization.  

Korea, the world's fastest-ageing society, is building a comprehensive system for aging in place — anchored in Universal Health Coverage, long-term care insurance, social care, and the newly enacted Integrated Care Act (March 2026). Professor Kim will share how AI is being embedded across public health, long-term care, and community services, drawing on national applications (AI care calls, social robots, frailty prediction) and a SNU-Stanford collaborative project, with attention to questions of equity, gender, and ethical, legal, and social implications.

Professor Ma of Peking University will then discuss an economic evaluation of integrating AI-enabled diabetic retinopathy (DR) care into primary diabetes care in rural China. Finally, Professor Wong will discuss his research, leadership, and policy experience in Singapore and China, including DR screening, dementia screening, PRIMARY-AI, and the landscape of medical AI in the region. The speakers’ presentations will be followed by Q&A.

This annual event fosters conversations between the US and Asian research communities about AI for healthy aging, including incentive alignment, task augmentation vs automation within health labor markets, and health policymakers’ approaches to accountability, governance, and social impact.

Speakers:

Hongsoo Kim is a professor of health policy and aging at the Graduate School of Public Health and director of the Center for AI in Health and Care at the Artificial Intelligence Institute at Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea. Dr. Kim’s research areas include aging and health policy, long-term care systems, health-care system performance and evaluation, and care innovation. She has conducted numerous government-funded research projects and also participated in reviews of health and long-term care policies at various levels. She was a 2016-2017 Fulbright Visiting Scholar & Takemi Fellow in International Health at Harvard School of Public Health. She has been the recipient of an AXA Research Award (2016) and a Humboldt Research Fellowship (2019). She is currently an expert member of the WHO advisory group for the UN Decade of Healthy Aging (2021-2030). Dr. Kim received her PhD from New York University, where she worked as an assistant professor before she joined SNU.

Xiaochen Ma is an assistant professor of health economics at the China Center for Health Development Studies (CCHDS), Peking University. As a health and development economist, Dr. Ma’s research focuses on health decision-making and health system strengthening. In the past and ongoing projects, he has led several large-scale randomized trials on improving access to quality care through digital health and nudge interventions to disadvantaged communities in China. His work has appeared in leading medical and economics journals such as BMJ and the Journal of Health Economics.

Tien Yin Wong is a physician-scientist-innovator and the Senior Vice-Chancellor of Tsinghua Medicine and Vice-Provost of Tsinghua University, China. He has worked and held senior leadership roles in Singapore and Australia, including at the National University of Singapore, SingHealth Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore National Eye Centre, and University of Melbourne.

Professor Wong is a practicing retinal specialist with a research portfolio on retinal diseases, ocular imaging, AI, and digital technology. He has published >1,700 peer-reviewed papers (H-index >230, highly cited researcher 2020-2025), given >600 invited named, plenary, and symposium lectures, and received >US$100 million in grant funding. Prof Wong has been recognized with multiple international awards, including the Arnall Patz Medal (Macula Society), Jose Rizal Medal (Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology), and Friedenwald Award (ARVO). He has received Singapore’s President’s Science and Technology Award. He is an elected Member/Fellow of five national academies: the US National Academy of Medicine, the UK Royal Society, the Singapore National Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and the US National Academy of Inventors.

Based on her recent, front-line role managing one of the world’s most consequential bilateral relationships, Sarah Beran offers an insider’s perspective on the evolution of U.S. China-related policies from the Biden administration into a second Trump term. Shaped by her tenure at the National Security Council and in Beijing during a period of heightened tensions, Beran will explain U.S. efforts to align allies, de-risk supply chains, and counter coercive behavior. As a recent leader of the U.S. diplomatic mission in China, Beran will detail the operational realities of U.S. diplomacy with China.  Please join us for a candid assessment of whether a stable equilibrium between competition and coexistence is achievable in today’s evolving strategic environment.

Speaker: Sarah Beran joined Macro Advisory Partners following a distinguished 23-year career in the US Foreign Service, most recently serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Beijing and as Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the White House National Security Council. As the principal advisor to the President and National Security Advisor on China and Taiwan (2022-2024), her portfolio encompassed technology export controls, investment screening, trade policy, counternarcotics, Russia sanctions and Taiwan contingency planning. She led strategic preparations for multiple heads-of-state summits, negotiated the reopening of senior diplomatic channels with Beijing, and helped forge the first US-China understanding on AI safety in the context of nuclear command and control. At the National Security Council, Sarah also led interagency policy coordination on the expansion of technology export controls, investment screening, trade policy, counternarcotics, Russia sanctions and Taiwan contingency planning. Sarah also served as former US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s Deputy Executive Secretary for the Indo-Pacific, led the office responsible for US engagement in APEC and served as former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. She was posted overseas in Beijing, Islamabad, Jerusalem and Quito, and she speaks Mandarin and Spanish. Sarah is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Asia Society’s Task Force on US-China Policy.

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Drawing on nearly three decades of diplomatic experience and her current work at Yale, Susan Thornton will assess the current trajectory of U.S.–China relations at a moment of renewed geopolitical tension. Based on long-standing official leadership and unofficial engagement via “Track II” dialogues, Thornton will outline prospects for limited cooperation on global challenges – from combatting pandemics to nuclear security – and describe strategic choices the two powers face in light of competition and continued interdependence.  Thornton will also explore how Asian partners interpret recent U.S. policy shifts, at times balancing security concerns with economic ties abroad.  This talk will invite the audience to consider whether a pragmatic, interest-based framework for engagement remains possible—and necessary—in the current era.

Speaker: Susan A. Thornton is a retired senior U.S. diplomat with almost three decades of experience with the U.S. State Department in Eurasia and East Asia. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. She is also the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Until July 2018, Thornton was Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State and led East Asia policymaking amid crises with North Korea, escalating trade tensions with China, and a fast-changing international environment. In previous State Department roles, she worked on U.S. policy toward China, Korea and the former Soviet Union and served in leadership positions at U.S. embassies in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus and China. Thornton received her M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and her B.A. from Bowdoin College in Economics and Russian. She serves on several nonprofit boards and speaks Mandarin and Russian.

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Amid groundbreaking political reforms and the largest mass migration in human history, China created over 3,800 new towns to house its burgeoning urban population and sustain rapid economic growth. Driven by marketization, global trade, inter-city competition, and an exponentially growing real estate industry, this continuous urban expansion represents the most extensive urbanization initiative in history. Contemporary Chinese new towns have emerged as a national campaign to reimagine the Chinese city and reshape the global geo-economic landscape. This talk examines four decades of Chinese urbanization through the lens of urbanism and utopianism. Case studies—including the Suzhou Industrial Park, Shanghai's One City and Nine Towns, and prototypical eco-cities—illuminate fundamental issues of economic vitality, cultural identity, environmental sustainability, and socio-spatial dynamics. Ultimately, the talk explores the complex interplay between space production and social transformation within the context of neoliberalism and globalization.

Speaker: Zhongjie “Jeffrey” Lin is Benjamin Lin Presidential Professor of Urban Design at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, where he serves as Head of the Urban Design program and directs the Future Cities Initiative. An internationally renowned expert in urban planning and design, Dr. Lin has published numerous books on Asian architecture and cities, including Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan (2010/2023), Vertical Urbanism: Designing Compact Cities in China (2018), and Constructing Utopias: China’s New Town Movement in the 21st Century (2025). He was the recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Abe Fellowship, and three Graham Foundation awards.

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Paper 1 : Optimal Payment Levels for Reference-Dependent Physicians

Abstract: Prospective payment policies, which set a fixed payment for a bundle of services regardless of providers’ actual costs, are widely used across sectors. However, when the fixed payment level deviates from providers’ familiar, preexisting revenue, the introduction of such policies may induce behavioral distortions if providers exhibit reference-dependent preferences. This study investigates the optimal payment level under this policy by leveraging the healthcare context. We develop a collective model of medical decision-making and incorporate physicians’ reference-dependent preferences into this collective framework. Our structural estimates reveal that both patients and physicians play active roles in medical decisions, with physicians placing 3.5 times more weight on perceived losses than gains. The fixed payment level, by shaping physicians’ perceptions of gains and losses, crucially affects both treatment and welfare outcomes. Through welfare analysis, we derive the optimal payment level that reduces healthcare expense while maintaining patient health benefits.

Speaker:
Wei Yan is an Assistant Professor at the School of Finance, Renmin University of China. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the National University of Singapore. Her research in health economics studies the interactions among healthcare providers, patients, and insurers, with a focus on understanding how differing incentive structures and information asymmetries between these key players affect their decisions and generate inefficiencies in healthcare markets.

Paper 2: Fear and Risk Perception: Understanding Physicians' Dynamic Responses to Malpractice Lawsuits

Abstract: Using linked health insurance claims and malpractice lawsuit records from a Chinese city, we study how lawsuits shape physicians’ behavior. After lawsuits, physicians practice more defensively—rejecting high-risk patients, reducing surgeries, and increasing diagnostic tests and traditional Chinese medicine—without improving outcomes. The effects spread to unaffected departments and fade in eight weeks. Evidence suggests psychological rather than financial drivers: similar responses regardless of hospitals’ prior exposure or litigation outcomes; reactions to patient deaths vary with the recency of the lawsuit; and responses intensify after violent incidents against physicians. Overall, lawsuits trigger short-lived, fear-driven defensive medicine.

Speaker: 
Jia Xiang is Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Penn State in 2020. She was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health from 2020 to 2021. Her areas of expertise include Industrial Organization, Health Economics, and Applied Microeconomics. Her work has been published in The Rand Journal of Economics.

This talk examines how age and generational differences shape smartphone adoption patterns in South Korea, one of the world's most rapidly aging societies. Using discrete-time hazard models, the analysis investigates whether digital divides reflect temporary life stage effects or persistent generational differences that accompany cohorts throughout their lives. Preliminary results reveal striking heterogeneity both across and within age cohorts, suggesting that neither age nor cohort membership alone fully explains adoption patterns. Motivated by these findings, the talk concludes by introducing an age-period-cohort framework designed to separate the distinct effects of aging, different formative experiences (cohort effect), and changing environment (period effect) on technology adoption.

Speaker:

Jinseok Kim is a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL). His research examines economic decision-making and technology adoption through the lens of behavioral and applied microeconomics. Using econometric modeling and experimental approaches, he studies consumer behavior, innovation diffusion, and the interaction between policy, markets, and demographic change. His work contributes to understanding how psychological factors and institutional contexts shape economic choices and the adoption of new technologies.

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