Event description
After decades of being relegated to the periphery of China’s geostrategy, the regions of what is now collectively termed the Global South – Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East – have become an essential component of China’s external engagement and foreign policy. China is now a central player in the economic and technological development of countries across the developing world, with significant implications for these countries’ trajectories as well as their relations with the United States and other developed democracies. At the same time, China’s growing influence in these regions is increasingly hampered by systemic factors, including China’s slowing economy, raising questions about China’s bid to lead the Global South and shape the narrative on the global development agenda. These dynamics all play out against the backdrop of escalating Sino-US strategic economic, security and technological rivalry, and transnational security threats like pandemics, climate change, and terrorism.
This conference will tackle these issues and more, with a particular focus on convening a diverse group of experts from the Global South as well as from the private sector and US and allied governments to kickstart innovative and collaborative policy solutions to mounting strategic rivalry in the Global South and that help ensure engagement with China serves the interests of developing countries.
Please join us in person! To RSVP for the event, please register via the registration box on this page. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email on how to join the event.
Speakers
Keynote speakers
Speakers
Agenda
February 21
08:30 a.m. – 09:00 a.m. | Introduction
FEATURING
R. Scott Appleby, Marilyn Keough Dean, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor of Politics, Keough School of Government, University of Notre Dame
David Shullman, Senior Director, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
09:05 a.m. – 09:30 a.m. | Keynote address
FEATURING
Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
09:35 a.m. – 10:35 a.m. | China’s aims in a shifting global order
FEATURING
Bilahari Kausikan, Chairman, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
Paul Nantulya, Research Associate, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow, China Studies, The National Bureau of Asian Research
Michael Schuman, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
MODERATED BY: David Shullman, Senior Director, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
10:40 a.m. – 11:25 a.m. | Regional lightning discussion: Africa
FEATURING
Joseph Asunka, Chief Executive Officer, Afrobarometer
Paul Nantulya, Research Associate, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Oscar M. Otele, Nonresident Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
MODERATED BY: Rama Yade, Senior Director, Africa Center, Atlantic Council
11:35 a.m. – 12:35 p.m. | Development and finance
FEATURING
Samantha Custer, Director of Policy Analysis, AidData
W. Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development
Veda Vaidyanathan, Associate Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, New Delhi
Wawa Wang, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
MODERATED BY: Jeremy Mark, Nonresident Senior Fellow, GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council
12:50 p.m. – 01:50 p.m. | Lunch book talk
FEATURING
Joseph Asunka, Chief Executive Officer, Afrobarometer
Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor of Politics, Keough School of Government, University of Notre Dame
01:55 p.m. – 02:55 p.m. | Governance and rights
FEATURING
Victoria Tin-bor Hui, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
Bulelani Jili, Nonresident Fellow, Cyber Statecraft Initiative, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Rana Siu Inboden, Senior Fellow, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, The University of Texas at Austin
Christopher Walker, Vice President for Studies and Analysis, National Endowment for Democracy
MODERATED BY: Johanna Kao, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council | Regional Director for Asia, International Republican Institute
03:00 p.m. – 03:45 p.m. | Regional lightning talk: Latin America
FEATURING
Victoria Chonn-Ching, Nonresident Fellow, Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council
Parsifal D’Sola, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
Evan Ellis, Research Professor, Latin America Studies, US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
Margaret Myers, Director, Asia & Latin America Program, Inter-American Dialogue
MODERATED BY: Pepe Zhang, Senior Fellow, Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council
04:00 p.m. – 05:00 p.m. | China’s discourse power
FEATURING
Sarah Cook, Senior Advisor for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Freedom House
Kenton Thibaut, Senior Resident Fellow, China, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Emeka Umejei, Media Scholar, Center for Analysis of Authoritarian Influence
MODERATED BY: Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor of Politics, Keough School of Government, University of Notre Dame
05:00 p.m. – 06:00 p.m. | Reception
Beverages and light refreshments provided
February 22
08:45 a.m. – 09:20 a.m. | Keynote address
FEATURING
Daniel Twining, President, International Republican Institute
09:20 a.m. – 10:05 a.m. | Regional lightning talk: Asia
FEATURING
Douveri Henao, Founder and CEO, Legacy Group
Richard Heydarian, Senior Lecturer, Asian Center, University of the Philippines
Susan Ostermann, Associate Professor of Global Affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
MODERATED BY: Amy Searight, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security Initiative, Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council
10:10 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. | Technological rivalry and the Global South
FEATURING
Ngor Luong, Nonresident Fellow, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
Elina Noor, Senior Fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Conrad Tucker, Director, CMU-Africa and Associate Dean, International Affairs-Africa, Carnegie Mellon University
Chris Schroeder, Co-Founder, Next Billion Ventures | Chairman, The German Marshall Fund
MODERATED BY: Rose Jackson, Director, Democracy & Tech Initiative, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Regional lightning talk: MENA
FEATURING
Jonathan Fulton, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs, Atlantic Council
Andrea Ghiselli, Assistant Professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University
Dawn Murphy, Associate Professor, National Security Strategy, National War College, National Defense University
MODERATED BY: Jonathan Panikoff, Director, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs and Senior Fellow, GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. | Luncheon keynote
FEATURING
Michael Schiffer, Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia, USAID
1:20 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. | Forging a more effective US approach in the Global South
FEATURING
Simon Littlewood, CEO, SDG Global Group
Daphne A. McCurdy, Senior Advisor, Office of China Coordination, US Department of State
MODERATED BY: David Shullman, Senior Director, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
2:30 p.m. | Concluding remarks
FEATURING
David Shullman, Senior Director, Global China Hub, Atlantic Council
Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor of Politics, Keough School of Government, University of Notre Dame
Revisit the 2022 China-Global South Conference
In 2022, in partnership with Notre Dame University’s Pulte Institute for Global Development hosted a virtual conference on China and the Global South.
This conference is part of the China-Global South Initiative, a joint project by Notre Dame and the Atlantic Council to work with local partners to better understand and respond to China’s strategic intentions, methods, and ultimate political and economic impacts in the Global South. This effort seeks to leverage both organizations’ capacity for generating deep insights into the domestic drivers of China’s external behavior and nuanced understanding of ground realities across the Global South via direct engagement with regional stakeholders. In doing so, the CGSi addresses an area which remains understudied despite the numerous ways China’s role across the Global South will shape the future of the rules-based international order and affect US interests.
The Global China Hub researches and devises allied solutions to the global challenges posed by China’s rise, leveraging and amplifying the Atlantic Council’s work on China across its sixteen programs and centers.
Atlantic Council TV
Watch this event and more content on ACTV
Follow the conversations shaping our world. Available on all major platforms.
On Twitter? Follow the conversation with @AtlanticCouncil and @ACGlobalChina using #ACGlobalChina