M105 | Enter the Dragon: China on the World Stage |
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The
course will look at the history of China and its global role. It will review
the continuing patterns of warlordism followed be centralized control. It will examine
China's role from the Silk Road to rule by the Mongols to the involvement of
Western powers in China's affairs. We will also look at China's economic roles,
as well as the major challenges China faces in the coming decades, from a
halving of the country's population to climate change and severe drought and from
pollution to pandemics. We will consider a possible attack on Taiwan, the
possibilities of success and the likely Western response.
Richard Eason served in the US Foreign Service for 32 years, including four years at the Secretariat of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum, one of them working under a Chinese diplomat, during the talks over China's accession to the World Trade Organization. He will draw from a paper he wrote at the US Naval War College in 2011 titled, "China in 2050: The Sick Man of Asia?" and from decades looking at China and its position in the world. |
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