Refashioning the East Asian Order
The China Forum lecture on Wednesday 30 November 2022 was delivered by Ambassador , Visiting Scholar, , Brown University; former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense; former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; and Principal American interpreter during President Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972.
Ambassador Freeman's lecture began by providing a historical overview of the East Asian order. He examined the way in which the USA filled the power vacuum in the region after Japan¡¯s defeat in World War II. He then analysed the changes that have taken place in the region: there is no longer a power vacuum; most East Asian states are now prosperous and have developed robust self-defence capabilities; the USA no longer leads the region¡¯s economy; and there are doubts in the region about the USA¡¯s reliability as a strategic partner. These changes mean that the US needs to shift its policy towards the region. Freeman analysed the multiple factors driving Sino-American hostility. Among these factors, Taiwan is the only one that could lead to a mutually devastating nuclear exchange between the USA and China. He argued that American policy towards the region fails to consider the capabilities of the region¡¯s independent states and their need to coexist with a reinvigorated China. American policy excludes China from any significant role in managing the affairs within its own region and relies on military means to accomplish its objectives. In Freeman¡¯s view, American policy towards the region increases the danger of war. He proposed that the USA and its allies need a grand strategy that links diplomacy, economic policy and military structures into a framework of assurances and constraints that overcome the threats to the region¡¯s peace and prosperity. Ambassador Freeman concluded that reasoning about China by analogy with Germany, Japan or the USSR misinterprets the nature of the challenges to the existing order that China presents. The Asia-Pacific region is much readier for a self-reliant security architecture than current American policies assume. The region would prefer a stable order rather than confrontation between the USA and China.
The Q&A session addressed the following issues: the contributions that political, diplomatic, economic and commercial relationships can make to improving the US-China relationship; China's relationship with Taiwan; comparison of the China-Taiwan relationship with the US-Puerto Rico relationship; the impact of America¡¯s military-industrial complex upon the China-US relationship; an enquiry about the details of Freeman¡¯s proposed ¡®grand strategy¡¯ for the USA and its allies to link diplomacy, economic policy and military structures in order to overcome threats to the region¡¯s peace and prosperity; the extent to which the US government has an official policy to maintain its global hegemonic position.
Chas W. Freeman, Jr. is a Visiting Scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He is the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security affairs (1993¨C1994), Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1989¨C1992), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs (1986¨C1989), and Charg¨¦ d'Affaires at Bangkok (1984¨C1986) and Beijing (1981¨C1984). He served as Vice Chair of the Atlantic Council (1996-2008); co-Chair of the United States China Policy Foundation (1996¨C2009); President of the Middle East Policy Council (1997¨C2009), and Chair of the Committee for the Republic (2003-2020).
He was the principal American interpreter during President Nixon's path-breaking 1972 visit to Beijing, the editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica article on diplomacy, and the author of ; ; the ; and .
Chas W. Freeman is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Law School who studied at the Universidad Nacional Aut¨®noma de M¨¦xico and the ‡øÁ¢Å_ÖнÌÓý´óŒW. A compendium of his speeches is available at .
