The Asia Society is excited to announce a new, permanent home in Washington, D.C. for its Policy Institute and Center for China Analysis at the Blaine Mansion, a historic building in Dupont Circle at the intersection of think tank and Embassy rows.

President and CEO of the Asia that “Asia Society's purchase of the Blaine Mansion was made possible by a lead gift from Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone and Asia Society Global Trustee. Asia Society is deeply grateful to Mr. Schwarzman and the many Global Trustees and institutional supporters of the Society whose help made this new home possible.”

What did Trump and Xi achieve in Shenzhen—and what comes next?

Join us on November 23 at 10:30 a.m. with @wendyscutler, Jing Qian, @wstv_lizzi, and @LyleJMorris, moderated by David Shullman, for a live @AsiaPolicy summit review.

🔗 asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

What will the fourth Trump–Xi summit mean for Taiwan?

Join @GranoSimona, Dennis Weng & @LyleJMorris on Nov. 19 at 10 AM ET to discuss cross-Strait stability, U.S.–Taiwan relations & Taiwan’s political future.

Register: asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

What is the path forward for Sino-Indian re-engagement? In a new paper, @BrianWongOPR and @AravindYelery propose a framework of “selective integration” through value chain alignment in electronics, supply chain resilience in green tech, and people-to-people connections asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

25 years after China joined the WTO, how has its membership reshaped global trade and what lies ahead for China and the WTO? Join ASPI on Dec. 9 for a discussion with leading U.S. and Chinese experts, moderated by @wendyscutler. Register here: asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

Interested in contributing to @AsiaPolicy's Center for China Analysis' work on the PLA, cross-Straits and Chinese foreign policy? If so, come work for me!

I am hiring an intern for the Winter/Spring in Washington, DC. Fluency in Mandarin a must.

asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

As global leaders converge for the high-stakes November summit season, including #ASEAN, the #EastAsiaSummit, and #APEC, technology and AI have vaulted to the top of the agenda. Beyond formal declarations, the agreements and discussions negotiated on the sidelines – including at between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping – will directly shape market access, supply chain resilience, and international compliance for corporate leaders.

On November 18 at 2 PM, join Asia Society and @NikkeiAsia for a timely conversation to examine the domestic and geopolitical pressure points influencing these negotiations and to assess what the Trump-Xi dynamic means for global business. With @wstv_lizzi of @AsiaPolicy's Center for China Analysis; Jeannette L. Chu of @NFTC; and Nikkei Asia's @YifanYuNews (moderator).

Register to attend the virtual conversation: asiasociety.org/new-york/event…

#TBT This past June, ASPI hosted @SchwarzmanOrg for an alumni conference with the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, bringing together 19 alumni from 13 countries. 🎓🌏

Participants explored topics related to Malaysia's domestic l integration, semiconductors and innovation, navigating global trade headwinds, and artificial intelligence (AI) and fintech.

Inspired by these discussions, alumni share their insights on Malaysia’s rise as a regional and global tech hub.

👉Read their insights: asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

*Webinar alert*

Join us on Thursday, Nov. 19, from 10-11am US ET for a panel discussion on "How the Fourth Trump-Xi Summit Will Affect Taiwan, and What This Means for Taiwan's Future." We will unpack the role of Taiwan in U.S.-China relations as President Trump and Xi prepare to henzhen. We will also touch on the upcoming local elections in Taiwan and what the results might mean for cross-Straits and US-Taiwan relations.

I will be joined by Dr. Dennis Lu-Chung Weng, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Political Science at Sam Houston State University, and the founding Director of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Institute, and Dr. @GranoSimona, Managing Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich and Senior Fellow at @AsiaPolicy's Center for China Analysis.

asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

Quad FMs meet again in what looks like a very focused meeting, success will depend on timely execution: 🧵 1) Quad SI Accelerator: “expressed their intent to provide > $85 million of technical & financial assistance to support access to trusted SI across the Indo-Pacific”

In early August 2026, I visited my wife’s family in Dandong, Liaoning Province. It gave me a front-row seat to China’s narrative of the Korean War, and more broadly, Sino-DPRK relations. Dandong was one of several key battlegrounds during the war. It was the site of major U.S. an entry point from which Chinese People’s Volunteers (CPV) crossed into North Korea. The Korean War (1950–1953) remains the only major war in which U.S. and Chinese armed forces fought each other directly and on a sustained, large scale. It’s a war that continues to resonate within the PLA, and the legacy that shapes China’s contemporary relations with the DPRK and the United States.

I wrote about my impressions for a special issue of @AsiaPolicy's PLA Watch. Below is my travelogue of the visit – and an account of the Korean War through China’s eyes.

centerforchinaanalysis.asiasociety.org/p/special-issu…

This week, we hosted Neil Thomas, Senior Fellow on Chinese Politics at the @AsiaPolicy's Center for China Analysis for an Executive Briefing.

Thank you to our host @LaTrobeFin to all our Corporate Members who contributed to a fascinating discussion.

Don’t miss the next issue of the #SouthAsiaSnapshot! 📩

Subscribe today for Director of South Asia Initiatives @faamer’s take on the Makkah Defense Alliance and a rapidly evolving Middle East, and Sec. Rubio’s India visit.

Subscribe now ➡️ asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

In the latest #AsiaInsideOut, Jane Mellsop speaks with @ajwsmall from @ecfr about the evolving EU-China economic relationship, the risk of a trade war, and how the EU can work with other countries to address Chinese excess capacity.

Watch now: youtu.be/q-1AEM9qB2g?si…

As the Quad prepares for a leaders' summit next month, read @faamer and Emma Chanlett-Avery's key takeaways report as part of @AsiaPolicy's Cementing the Quad in the Indo-Pacific project. asiasociety.org/policy-institu…

Yesterday, we held a workshop in Canberra in partnership with @AsiaPolicy's Center for China Analysis on how middle powers can shape China's military activities in the Indo-Pacific.

Thank you to @DefenceAust for funding the project.

Sharing a new piece in Foreign Policy with the fantastic Ma Xiao from PKU, unpacking some of the local govt dynamics behind China's industrial policy, and why they make Beijing's efforts to rein in overcapacity so difficult!

(By the way Xiao has done, in my mind, some of the most insightful research on this topic… Add his work to your reading list if you have not already done so!)

The general idea: we tend to talk about “China’s industrial policy” as if it is coherent. Many already understand that local governments have their own incentives and that implementation differs. But how do they actually bargain, compete, improvise(!), and sometimes push much further than Beijing intended?

We start with two puzzles:

Beijing planned for 12,000 km of high-speed rail by 2020; China ended up with roughly 40,000 km.

Beijing's auto ambition was to have a small number of large SOEs and JVs. Instead, many of the real stars like Geely, BYD, Nio, etc. are private firms backed by local governments, often finding ways around regulatory restrictions with local help.

Our key argument: local governments are (opportunistic) policy entrepreneurs.

They have few formal ways to push their interests at the top, so they cultivate allies, bargain through ministries, back private firms, launch things first and seek approval later… and compete intensely for one scarce resource: top leadership attention!

That “attention economy” is key. Hence the focus on showcase projects. And hence, when it comes to stuff that looks good on camera, e.g., EVs, drones, robotics, etc., they pile in.

The fiscal angle has of course been discussed too, but is also key: Local governments still have every incentive to prop up firms, protect employment, avoid bankruptcies, etc., especially in places with few alternatives. The Shenzhens of China can afford to let a zombie EV firm fail; an already fiscally constrained city heavily dependent on one or two industries has very different options.

Then there is the cadre system. Officials get credit for launching a mega project, then often rotate elsewhere before the costs / waste / downside risks show up. The average tenure of provincial and city leaders is only about three and a half years, so achievements have to show up fast.

We then use this framework to explain why rebalancing toward consumption is so hard: consumption is slow-moving, difficult to measure as a local KPI, and hard to credit to a particular locality… and why reining in local debt is so difficult, since debt-led growth shows up before the consequences do.

Full article below:

China’s Overcapacity Has a Mind of Its Own
Beijing can’t rein in its own industrial machine.

foreignpolicy.com/2026/10/26/bei…

The CCP Central Committee's Fifth Plenum just revealed even more purges than we predicted

We expected attendance of ~161 members and ~130 alternates, or 77.4% of the original 205 + 171

Actual attendance was 162 members and 117 alternates, or 74.2%

A new post-Mao low

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Watch the post-screening conversation from Everest: The Other Side at Asia Society, featuring Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jim Morrison, Janet Yang, and Jing Qian.

On filmmaking, love and loss, resilience, and transcendence:

youtu.be/zyVyOKtVUn4?si…

.@AsiaPolicy's #CenterforChinaAnalysis announces the establishment of its China–Southeast Asia Advisory Council, co-chaired by Ambassador Chan Heng Chee and Gita Wirjawan (@GWirjawan). The Council brings together senior leaders and experts to guide CCA's research and regional engagement. Learn more: asiasociety.org/policy-institu…