Daniel Kliman

on May 8, 2014

Daniel M. Kliman is a Senior Fellow and Director of the the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He is an expert in Asia-Pacific strategy, with a particular focus on U.S. competition with China. Before joining CNAS, Kliman worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where he served as Senior Advisor for Asia Integration.

Prior to his time at the DoD, Kliman worked at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), first as a Transatlantic Fellow, and then as a Senior Advisor with the Asia Program. At GMF, Kliman launched a new line of research on emerging powers. He also created the Young Strategists Forum, a program to educate emerging leaders from the United States, Japan, and other major democracies about geopolitical competition in the Asia-Pacific region.

Kliman has authored two books, Fateful Transitions: How Democracies Manage Rising Powers, from the Eve of World War I to China’s Ascendance, and Japan’s Security Strategy in the Post-9/11 World: Embracing a New Realpolitik. He has also published in prominent outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Foreign Policy, and CNN.

Kliman received a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.

Alice Xin Liu

on May 8, 2014

Alice Xin Liu was born in Beijing and left for London at the age of seven, returning when she was 21. She is a graduate of Durham University, where she majored in English Literature, but her Chinese cadre grandparents were the main force behind her education.

She has translated poems by Sen Zi for the Copper Canyon Press poetry anthology Push Open the Window: Contemporary Poetry from China and has an ongoing contract with a Chinese publishing house to translate The Letters of Shen Congwen. Her translations have appeared on the website of Granta magazine, Chutzpah!, Asymptote, and Words Without Borders. She translated Han Han's next non-fiction book, compiled by her and her co-translator Joel Martinsen, which will be published by Simon and Schuster in 2015.

Since 2011, Liu has been the Managing Editor of Pathlight: New Chinese Writing, a new English literary journal jointly produced by Paper Republic and People’s Literature.

The Chinese Are Coming! (And That’s OK)

The U.S. Should Encourage Chinese Investment, Not Play Up the Few Deals Gone Wrong

on May 8, 2014

On April 29, the United States Chamber of Commerce, a U.S. lobbying group, announced that Chinese investment in the United States surpassed U.S. investment in China for the first time. The news has been a long time in coming: Over the past decade, Chinese companies have made major inroads in the U.S.

The China Challenge

By Ian Johnson on May 8, 2014

In 1890, an undistinguished U.S. Navy captain published a book that would influence generations of strategists. Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 posited that great nations need potent, blue-water navies backed by far-flung naval bases to project power around the globe. His work was so influential that Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany pledged to learn it by heart as he sought to triumph over the dominant power of his day, Britain and its Royal Navy.

How is China Doing in Africa?

By Tendai Musakwa, Kathleen McLaughlin & more on May 7, 2014

On his current weeklong tour of Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, and Kenya, Premier Li Keqiang announced a new $12 billion aid package intended to address China’s “growing pains” in Africa. China is by turns lauded for bringing development to the continent and chastized for what some see as a neo-colonial engagement that's too exploitative of Africa's natural resources. Whatever the view, one thing is certain: China is in Africa to stay. We asked our contributors, new and old, in China and Africa, to assess Beijing's progress so far.

Alison Klayman

on May 7, 2014

The New York Times’ chief film critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis recently named Alison Klayman one of the “20 Directors to Watch” on their list of rising international filmmaking talents under 40. Alison’s debut feature documentary, AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY, was shortlisted for an Academy Award and earned Alison a Director's Guild of America nomination. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Prize, and went on to win critical acclaim and many top honors, including an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award for excellence in broadcast journalism. NEVER SORRY has now been translated into over 26 languages and released theatrically around the world.

Klayman lived in China for four years working as a freelance journalist for outlets including National Public Radio and PBS Frontline, and has made many media appearances to speak about her work, from CNN to The Colbert Report. The Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, and Henry Luce Foundation are among the numerous foundations that have supported her filmmaking.

Rebecca Liao

on May 7, 2014

Rebecca Liao is a writer and corporate attorney with Silicon Valley and Hong Kong practices. She contributes to The Atlantic, n+1 , and The Times Literary Supplement, among various other publications. A graduate of Stanford University, where she studied Economics, and Harvard Law School, she founded The Aleph Mag, a digital magazine about art, culture, and Chinese law and politics.

As an attorney, Liao represents American and Chinese clients in a variety of domestic and international corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, and offerings of debt and equity. She is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Cobus van Staden

on May 7, 2014

Cobus van Staden is the co-host of the weekly China in Africa Podcast, produced by the China Africa Project.

Van Staden is currently the Senior China-Africa Researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg, South Africa’s leading international policy think tank. (SAIIA is not affiliated with the China Africa Project and does not fund, influence, or provide material support.) He completed his Ph.D. in Japanese Studies and Media Studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He expanded his work to comparisons between Japan and China during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch and as the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg, before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. He started in 1998 as a TV reporter for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Prior to joining SAIIA, van Staden was on the faculty of the Media Studies department at The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he tracked the expansion of Chinese and Japanese media interests in Africa.

Tendai Musakwa

on May 6, 2014

Tendai Musakwa is a Shanghai-based journalist specializing in tax planning and offshore investment. Tendai has been interested in Africa-China relations since he first arrived in China from Zimbabwe in 2004, and has an educational background in China studies and political science. He is a regular contributor to the China Africa Project.