The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy

The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy is a group of China specialists from around the U.S., convened by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy’s 21st Century China Center. It was established in fall 2015.

Task Force projects are made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with additional support from The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, and The Janet and Arthur Ross Foundation.

Policy Memo

Memo on U.S. Policy to China.
This memo on optimizing U.S. policy toward China is the result of multiple rounds of discussion among participants of The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy. Compiled by Susan Shirk, Research Professor and Director Emeritus of the 21st Century China Center, and Rick Waters, Senior non-resident fellow at the Asia Society, this memo the policy does not represent a formal consensus statement signed by Task Force members. Instead, it provides a distillation and synthesis of key insights from their extensive discussions. 

New Task Force Initiative: Transpacific Dialogue

In November 2021, our Task Force on U.S.-China Policy met with journalists, former diplomats and former senior government officials from around Asia. Following this meeting, the Task Force initiated an ongoing transpacific dialogue designed to increase U.S. understanding of Asian perspectives on China’s role in the region and around the world.

Three Questions for China’s Neighbors

Past Reports

Prioritizing Southeast Asia in American China Policy
This is a 2023 report by the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy’s Working Group on Southeast Asia, led by Task Force member David Shambaugh from George Washington University. The report lays out reasons why Southeast Asia is a critically important for U.S. interests and U.S. competition with China. It gives recommendations for U.S. policy both from the perspective of the Working Group’s Southeast Asian dialogue partners, and from the Working Group itself.

Hardheaded Diplomacy with China on Ukraine
The Task Force on U.S.-China Policy, of which the 21st Century China Center and Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations are co-organizers, released a statement on March 13 on how the U.S. and China should respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. You can read it here: in English or in Chinese.

Avoiding War Over Taiwan
This 2022 policy brief, cosigned by 14 members of the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy, makes an argument for avoiding war in the Taiwan Strait by bolstering deterrence through both assurances and threats.

Download the 2021 Report: "China’s New Direction: Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Policy" (PDF)
Key Takeaways on the 2021 Task Force Report (PDF)

"Course Correction: Toward an Effective and Sustainable China Policy" (PDF)
This 2019 report examined areas such as science and technology dimensions of U.S.-China competition and China-European relations.

"U.S. Policy Toward China: Recommendations for a New Administration" (PDF)
This 2017 report offered up a set of recommendations to the incoming Trump administration.

Task Force Members

Chairs:

Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on U.S.-China Relations, Asia Society

Susan L. Shirk, Chair, 21st Century China Center, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy

Participants:

Charlene Barshefsky, Chair, Parkside Global Advisors

Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Thomas J. Christensen, James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations and Director of the China and the World Program, Columbia University

Zack Cooper, Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Robert Daly, Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, Woodrow Wilson
Center

Rush Doshi, Assistant Professor in Security Studies, Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service

Elizabeth C. Economy, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institutions, Stanford University

Karl Eikenberry, Former U.S. Ambassador and Retired Lieutenant General, U.S. Army

M. Taylor Fravel, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security
Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law and Director, Paul Tsai China Center,
Yale Law School

Bonnie Glaser, Director, Asia Program, German Marshall Fund of the United States

Sheena Greitens, Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, and Director of Asia Policy Program, UT Austin

Paul Haenle, Maurice R. Greenberg Director’s Chair, Carnegie China

Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Arthur R. Kroeber, Managing Director, GaveKal Dragonomics

Winston Lord, Chairman Emeritus, International Rescue Committee; Former U.S. Ambassador to China 1985-1989

Evan S. Medeiros, Penner Family Chair in Asia Studies at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School

Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Columbia University

Barry Naughton, So Kwan Lok Chair of Chinese International Affairs, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy

Daniel H. Rosen, Founding Partner, Rhodium Group

David Shambaugh, Professor and Director of the China Policy Program, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Rick Waters, Managing Director, China Practice, Eurasia Group

Jessica Chen Weiss, Michael J. Zak Professor for China and Asia-Pacific Studies, Cornell University