CHINA Town Hall (CTH), a program that provides a snapshot of the current U.S.-China relationship and examines how that relationship reverberates at the local level – in our towns, states, and nation – connects people around the country with U.S. policymakers and thought leaders on China.
The 2025 CHINA Town Hall program took place on Thursday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, and discussed President Trump’s China policy 100 days in. Featured speakers included Ryan Hass, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution; Matthew Turpin, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution; and Lingling Wei, Chief China Correspondent at The Wall Street Journal.
Since CTH launched in 2007, the National Committee has proudly partnered with a range of institutions and civic groups, colleges and universities, trade and business associations, world affairs councils, and think tanks to convene town halls and bring this important national conversation to local communities around America (and a few overseas).
CTH Map
Check the map below –updated on a rolling basis — to find a 2025 CTH partner near you.
The National Committee has partnered with over 150 organizations in the past 17 years of CHINA Town Hall history, and we always welcome new partners. If you wish to host a local town hall as part of CTH, please register by April 9.
If there is no local town hall in your community, or your circumstances don’t allow you to attend a local town hall for extended discussions, you can also register and watch CHINA Town Hall from home. Sign up now to take part in an engaging national conversation.
Follow our Instagram for short clips and infographics.
The U.S.-China Essentials multimedia series joins leading experts to explore key aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, highlights key issues to watch, and illustrates the ways it affects the lives of every American.
Speakers
At Brookings, Ryan Hass is director of the John L. Thornton China Center and the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies, and serves as a senior fellow in the Center for Asia Policy Studies. His research focuses on U.S. policy toward East Asia, particularly U.S.-China relations, Taiwan, and regional security issues.
Before joining Brookings, Hass served as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council from 2013 to 2017. In this role, he advised President Obama and senior White House officials on all aspects of U.S. policy toward East Asia and coordinated policy implementation across U.S. government agencies.
Prior to joining NSC, Hass served as a foreign service officer, with postings in U.S. Embassies in Beijing, Seoul, and Ulaanbaatar, as well as assignments in the State Department’s Offices of Taiwan Coordination and Korean Affairs. Hass received multiple Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor commendations during his 15-year tenure in the Foreign Service.
He holds an M.A. from John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. from the University of Washington.
Matthew Turpin is a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution specializing in U.S. policy toward the People’s Republic of China, economic statecraft, and technological innovation. He is also a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies.
From 2018 to 2019, Turpin served as the U.S. National Security Council’s Director for China and the Senior Advisor on China to the Secretary of Commerce. In those roles, he was responsible for managing the interagency effort to develop and implement U.S. Government policies on the People’s Republic of China.
Before entering the White House, Turpin served over 22 years in the U.S. Army in a variety of combat units in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and as an assistant professor of history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He retired from the Army in 2017.
From 2013 to 2017, he served as an advisor on the People’s Republic of China to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon and was assigned to assist the Deputy Secretary of Defense with the Defense Innovation Initiative, a program to examine the implications of great power competition on the Department of Defense and the role of innovation in U.S. defense policy.
He received his M.A. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Lingling Wei is the Chief China Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of the WSJ China Newsletter. She covers China’s political economy, focusing on the intersection of business and politics. Her reporting offers readers nuanced insights into China’s decision-making processes and the forces shaping U.S.-China relations today. Wei won many awards for her China coverage. She was among a team of reporters and editors whose work was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2021.
Wei joined the WSJ in New York in 2009 to cover real estate, and in 2011 became a China correspondent. During her tenure, she produced in-depth coverage of China’s mounting debt, tightening state control over the economy, and the escalating U.S.-China trade war. Prior to the Journal, Wei had worked at Dow Jones Newswires and a government-owned newspaper in China. In addition to her reporting, Wei co-authored Superpower Showdown: How the Battle Between Trump and Xi Threatens a New Cold War.
Lingling Wei holds a M.A. in journalism from New York University and a B.S. in journalism from Fudan University in Shanghai.
