More than 10,000 people across the United States (and beyond) tuned in to watch Ambassador Susan E. Rice headline  CHINA Town Hall on October 24, 2017. Ambassador Rice answered questions from the live audience on a range of critical bilateral issues, from North Korea to the war on drugs, and also shared her thoughts on President Trump's upcoming state visit to China.


Jump ahead to some of the highlights:

  • North Korea: "The Trump administration has correctly continued to ratchet up the sanctions, but we do need to be talking to the Chinese—in a way that I don't believe or at least I'm not aware of that we are now—about the complexities on the Korean peninsula, and we do need to leave the door open to diplomacy."
  • Trump's upcoming state visit to China: "It's important that he not settle—as the Chinese may want him to—for pomp and circumstance."
  • Challenges in the U.S.-China economic relationship: “There are issues that are very frustrating to the U.S. side. We need to manage them and we need to play hardball, but we can’t make empty threats that we may not be willing to back up.”
  • Climate change: U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement "is a signal to the world that we don't stand by our agreements."
  • South China Sea: The United States conducts freedom of navigation operations "on an equal opportunity basis, challenging the claims of all claimants, not just China."
  • War on drugs: The fentanyl threat "is not only killing far too many Americans, but is also one that will destabilize China if left unaddressed, so we have a mutual interest in this."
  • Global health: China is an important player in "helping to prevent, detect, and contain disease outbreaks, but also in helping to build the capacity of weaker countries" to do the same.
  • ISIL, Syria, & Iran: "We have sought to enlist China's cooperation on fighting terrorism broadly, on dealing with the ISIL threat specifically, on Syria, and on Iran and the nuclear problem quite effectively."
  • Belt & Road Initiative: "The economics of some of the proposed linkages are not as real in practical terms as they may be attractive in strategic terms."
  • Africa: China's involvement in Africa "has the potential to undermine the aspirations of civil society in these countries."
  • Human rights: "I'm concerned that in the current administration, human rights have essentially fallen off the agenda with China, but not only with China—it's a phenomenon we see replicated, from the Philippines to Turkey to Saudi Arabia."
  • China-bashing in U.S. elections: "We need to prevail on our policymakers and our leaders to be more judicious in how they employ China in our domestic politics."