The Trump administration’s efforts to secure more control over Greenland have put China’s activities in the Arctic under a spotlight. Since 2018 when China declared itself to be a “near-Arctic state” with strategic interests in the region, it has expanded its Arctic research activities, acquired more icebreaking vessels, conducted Arctic patrols with Russia, and sent a ship from Asia to Europe through the Arctic Ocean along Russia’s northern coast – a route China has dubbed the “Polar Silk Road.” But is any of this activity contrary to international law or dangerous to the US? Professor Yuanyuan (Kate) Ren at the University of Dayton School of Law, an international law scholar who formerly worked at the Polar Research Institute of China, will explain how China interprets international law at the polar regions and what is publicly known about its Arctic goals.  

In his book, Revitalizing the World Trading System, published in 2023, Alan Wolff guided readers through the past, present and potential futures of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this talk and subsequent conversation, he will update his prescriptions for WTO reform in light of the recent turn to unilateral tariffs, bilateral trade deals concluded under their threat, and reforms to the multilateral trading system now being proposed by both the Trump Administration and the EU.  Mr. Wolff, one the leading trade experts of our time, will also consider the implications for Asia of these unprecedented challenges (and opportunities) for the world trading system.

We continue our speaker series about Taiwan’s status in the world with a look at its relationship with the European Union. None of the EU’s twenty-seven member states has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but nineteen member states and the EU itself have opened quasi-embassies there and the EU holds a ministerial-level trade and investment dialogue with its government.  In recent years, as tensions with China have heightened over trade disputes and the war in Ukraine, the EU Parliament has increasingly emphasized Taiwan’s shared democratic values and their similar experiences living with a powerful, authoritarian neighbor. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, a scholar who divides her time between Brussels and Taiwan, will unpack the drivers and limitations of Europe’s affinity for Taiwan..