TLL Spring 2022 Webinar Series
May 5 - Jun 2
Behind the Headlines: China in the 21st century
Context
China is the most populous country on our planet. Its economy is second only to the United States, and it is expected to surpass the U.S. by 2035.
Its leadership, internal tensions and geopolitical actions often dominate our news headlines. And yet, its political structure, international tactics and future path remain uncertain to those of us watching China gain in power and influence.
The 5-Part Series
We will begin with four lectures on China with noted historian and scholar Dr. Olivier Courteaux where we will gain a more nuanced and deeper understanding of The Red Dragon.
Lecture 1: The Past Informs the Present: How China’s history is shaping its foreign policy
Lecture 2: Flexing its Muscle: China and the Indo-Pacific Region
Lecture 3: New Silk Road and Belt – Navigating China’s Global Project
Lecture 4: A New Cold War? China, the EU, the U.S. and Canada
A fifth lecture by Dr. Diana Fu, from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, will focus on the social pressures in China as some of its citizens become financial megastars while so many struggle in poverty.
Lecture 5: From the Migrant Masses to the "Crazy Rich": The Faces of Contemporary China
The details…
All lectures will take place on Thursdays from 2:00-3:30 PM
May 5, 2022
The Past Informs the Present: How China’s history is shaping its foreign policy
by Dr. Olivier Courteaux
China reveres its long and majestic past, its culture and its strength. It remembers that at the end of the 18th century, imperial China was the largest and wealthiest country in the world, a history unknown to most Westerners.
China also bears the burden and shame that its empire was unable to hold onto its power and sovereignty until the rise of Communist China in the middle of the last century. The “century of humiliations” has not been forgotten in China.
Dr. Courteaux will present a historical overview of China, essential to understanding the viewpoints and choices the country is now making.
May 12, 2022
Flexing its Muscle: China and the Indo-Pacific Region
by Dr. Olivier Courteaux
Is China’s increasingly aggressive stance in the Indo-Pacific Region a sign of its new power? It is quickly expanding its control of Hong Kong and setting its sights on Taiwan.
Is military action in the region imminent? And what of China’s tense relationship with India, Asia’s other economic powerhouse?
Dr. Courteaux’s second lecture zeroes in on China and her neighbours, and what guides the actions of its President, Xi Jinping.
May 19, 2022
New Silk Road and Belt – Navigating China’s Global Project
by Dr. Olivier Courteaux
The Silk Roads comprised a network of trade routes connecting the East and West from the 2nd Century BCE to the 18th Century.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping revived this concept transforming it into a massive infrastructure project. It has been welcomed by some seventy countries in Europe, Asia and Africa eager for China’s expertise and investment to develop international trade.
This mega-venture also provokes mistrust and fear in the West, concerned about China’s bid for growing global influence. What will be the lasting influence and importance of this strategy?
May 26, 2022
A New Cold War? China, the EU, the U.S. and Canada
by Dr. Olivier Courteaux
In recent months, China’s People’s Army has flexed its military muscle and reinforced the perception of a growing Chinese military threat towards neighbouring countries as well its Western adversaries including America.
What is the state of China’s military today? Can it match the U.S. military by the centennial of the Communist regime in 2049? What about China’s big push to acquire new technologies?
Its willingness to use political blackmail to gain the upper hand or show its displeasure at the actions of other countries as we saw with the Two Michaels. What does this all mean for our world?
June 2, 2022
From the Migrant Masses to the "Crazy Rich": The Faces of Contemporary China
by Dr. Diana Fu
As its wealth and influence rise, China has become a country of stark extremes. Long gone is the dream of the workers’ socialist, class-free paradise.
Instead, Beijing and Shanghai are homes to a financial elite with growing political and societal influence while across the country an underclass of over 280 million migrant workers form the country’s backbone—and, arguably, the backbone of the world economy.
Dr. Diana Fu will introduce some of the intriguing stories, the subcultures and the inevitable tensions within a country of almost 1.5 billion people.
Speakers
Dr. Olivier Courteaux
Olivier Courteaux received his B.A. in history, M.A. in war and conflict studies and Ph.D. in contemporary international relations from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. He has lectured at various Canadian universities, including Ryerson and the Royal Military College of Canada.
He is the author of The War on Terror: the Canadian Dilemma (2009), Canada Between Vichy and Free France, 1940-1945 (2013) and Quatre Journées qui ébranlèrent le Québec on Charles de Gaulle’s famous 1967 “Vive le Québec Libre” (2017). His latest books are: The Empress Eugenie at Suez, 1869 and France and Egypt during the Second Empire
Dr. Diana Fu
Diana Fu is associate professor of political science at The University of Toronto and director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
She is a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institute and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations. She is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
Her research examines popular contention, state control, civil society, and authoritarian citizenship, with a focus on contemporary China. She is author of the award-winning book “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” written in 2018.
Dr. Fu’s research and commentary on Chinese politics have appeared in numerous media outlets, including BBC World Service, The New York Times, Globe and Mail and The Economist. She was a television host and scriptwriter for the TVO documentary series, “China Here and Now.”