The Political Fragility of the Current Regime in China: interview with Susan Shirk

Susan Shirk is the Chair of the 21st Century China Center and Research Professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California - San Diego. She is also director emeritus of the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). Susan Shirk first visited China in 1971 and has been teaching, researching and engaging China diplomatically ever since. From 1997-2000, Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia. Most recently, Shirk co-chaired a bipartisan Task Force on US-China Policy that made recommendations for a China strategy for the new administration http://china.ucsd.edu/​_files/​02072017_US_China_task-force_report.pdf Her article, “Getting to Yes With Beijing,” (Foreign Affairs, March/April 2017) argues that “the United States must figure out how to channel [China’s] ambition in a positive direction while respecting China’s nationalist pride and protecting the United States’ own interests.” Shirk's prior publications include her books, China: Fragile Superpower; How China Opened Its Door: The Political Success of the PRC's Foreign Trade and Investment Reforms; The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China; Competitive Comrades: Career Incentives and Student Strategies in China; and her edited book Changing Media, Changing China. Her current research focuses on the evolution of Chinese leadership institutions and a comparison with those of North Korea and Vietnam.