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LEWISTON — Lewiston-Auburn Senior College will host a free online conversation with Susan Thornton, “The Future of U.S.-China Relations: How Can We Live With a Powerful China?” as part of its Food for Thought series.
U.S. relations with China are more strained now than in the past 40 years, notes Thornton, who plans to discuss topics such as what we and the world want from China, the largest country and second largest economy, and what we should expect to happen. “Can we prevent conflict and cooperate on important issues with China?” she asks. “How could this be done and what would it look like? Or are we, as a prominent historian has theorized, ‘Destined for War?’ ”
Thornton recently joined Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center as a Senior Fellow following a distinguished 28-year career at the Department of State. Thornton was acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs during the first 18 months of the Trump administration and led East Asia policy-making amid crises with North Korea, escalating trade tensions with China, and a generally deteriorating environment in the United States for international economic and diplomatic engagement. She was the architect of the diplomatic pressure campaign on the North Korean regime, structured the administration’s initial approach to China, and developed the administration’s trademark Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Thornton, who lives in Lisbon, earned a master’s degree in international relations and Soviet studies from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1991 and earned a second master’s degree in national strategy and resource management at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School in 2010.
The free presentation will be held at noon Friday, Jan. 15, on Zoom. To attend, email laseniorcollege@gmail.com by noon Thursday, Jan. 14; an email containing the link will arrive on the morning of the event.
