21 February 2023

Harvard Fairbank Center Special Event—2 March: “‘Friends with No Limits?’ The Future of China-Russia Relations”

Harvard Fairbank Center Presentations (Selected)

“Friends with No Limits?” The Future of China-Russia Relations

Speakers:

  • Andrew S. Erickson, Professor of Strategy and Research Director, U.S. Naval War College (NWC) China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI); Visiting Professor, Government Department, Harvard University; Associate in Research, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.
  • Taylor Fravel, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science, Director of the Security Studies Program, MIT
  • Emily Holland, Assistant Professor, Russia Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College
  • Alexandra Vacroux, Executive Director, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
  • Moderator: Mark Wu, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Director, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

A year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are China and Russia still “friends with no limits?” Since embracing that phrase, Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought, on occasion, to publicly distance Beijing from Moscow. Is that actually happening, or is this just a mirage? Over the past year, bilateral trade has more than doubled, with China offering much-needed economic support to blunt the impact of Western sanctions. Could Chinese contributions undermine EU, U.S., and G7 country sanctions and prolong Putin’s war? What are the prospects for Sino-Russian partnership in politics, defense, and intelligence?

Join us as leading experts examine how a new China-Russia axis is changing the global order.

Andrew S. Erickson is Professor of Strategy and the Research Director in the U.S. Naval War College (NWC)’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). He is a Visiting Professor at the Harvard University Department of Government Department and an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Erickson helped establish CMSI in 2006 and has played an integral role in its development. CMSI inspired the creation of other research centers, which he has advised and supported; he is a China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) Associate. He is also an Executive Committee member of Israel’s Haifa Maritime Center and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the editorial boards of Naval War College Review and Asia Policy.

Taylor Fravel is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Taylor studies international relations, with a focus on international security, China, and East Asia. His books include Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflict in China’s Territorial Disputes, (Princeton University Press, 2008) and Active Defense: China’s Military Strategy Since 1949 (Princeton University Press, 2019). Taylor is a graduate of Middlebury College and Stanford University, where he received his PhD. He also has graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. In 2016, he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation. 

Emily Holland is an assistant professor in the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. Previously, she was an assistant professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, a postdoctoral fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and a visiting fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research (Berlin) and the European Council on Foreign Relations (Berlin). Professor Holland’s research has appeared in The Journal of International Affairs, Newsweek and Lawfare, among other publications.

Alexandra Vacroux is Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarly work addresses many Russian and Eurasian policy issues and she teaches popular courses on the comparative politics of Eurasia and post-Soviet conflict. As Director of Graduate Studies for the Davis Center’s MA program in regional studies, she has mentored dozens of Harvard’s best and brightest students and regional experts. Alexandra lived in Moscow from 1992 to 2004. While there she held a number of positions, including consultant for the Russian Privatization Agency; partner and head of sales at the Brunswick Warburg investment bank; and active member of the board of United Way Moscow.

Website: 

https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_C_UXFIGVTsOLdWGUcWGm_A