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efforts to boost relations with developing countries in the amid china's rising influence featuring assistant secretary of state for east asia and pacific affairs. this is about 40ni minutes. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ everyone thank you for joining us in person here today at the olympic council and virtually round the world. for our conference titled china in the global south development and influence in a shift in

global order. joint effort between the council and university of notre dame school of global affairs as part of our china global south initiative to better understand respond to china's impact across the global south. of the atlantic council global china.co which has the mission of devising allied solutions to the global challenges posed by china's rise, leveraging the work on china across our 16 programs. it is a true pleasure to kick off the student conference on the topic that cannot be more ortimely than to central both he big questions around the state of the international order and its intensifying strategic ate of progress toward critical developing goals across much of the world. ouas countries look to rebound from the pandemic, dress massive harness the benefits of emerging technologies. in recent years china has devoted significant resources to deepening engagement acrosso of the t developing world or wht these days is commonly referred

to as the global south. from the trillion dollar belt road and issued to the i creati, conferences and summits, china is portraying itself as a champion of and for the global south. and in many wayare paying off. china is now africa's largest trading partner the second largest for latin america and the caribbean. in africa 53 countries adjoins child china's initiative with it being the only exception. there are of course political ramifications of deepening economic it's the only african country to officially recognize taiwan and since 2017 targeted bri investments in central■p america help entice the dominican republic and, to switch to diplomatic recognition from taiwan to we've seen similar story play out in the pacific islands. six years ago six countries recognize taiwan that number has not been cut in china has deepened its economic and in some cases political security

relationships with those nations. with the significant meanwhile the middle east and beijing silly translating a mounting mountingeconomic engagement into political diplomatic influence. last march of beijing was credited with mediating a stork between saudi arabia and iran potentially reshapingg the region's politics. now, even as it maintains traditionalnt risk of approach o involvement in the region china aims to use the israel hamas war and u.s. support for israel to bolster its narratives in the region and across the developing world. narratives that question the merits of the u.s. led a global order and democratic governance offering to open countries an alternative vision at a time as xi jinping puts it the world is undergoing changes on scene a century. the consequence of beijing's increasingly close ties across the diverse regions are magnified in multilateral formse like the united nations cna has sought to rally global's countries to defend its human

rights record support its efforts to transform the global order into one more suited to communist party. over the next two days we will explore china's renewed strategic focus and engagement in the global south. will actuak of our time doing something that is not done enough here in washingtonwh which is to take a nuanced look at developing countriesspectives opi where that their engagement with china is helping them to achieve ambitious developing goals. we w will explore with this picture it looks like across varied domains from tech innovation to go it ecosystem to investment debt and trade to the rule of law and information environment and muche more. benefiting from the participation of efforts across latin america, middle east and asia we will explore how relations with china are playing out across the vast and diverse regions that make up the so-called global south. i am thankful to those of youd o join us here in washington and bringing together your diverse

perspectives we have to listen and learn exploring the circumstances in which developing countries are truly benefiting from engagement with china what is working and why it conversely where our ties undermine prosperity and sovereignty. we'll close the conference more byin discussing how the united states and its allies and partners can better engage global self b countries to benet their citizens present viablee alternatives to china's offers ultimately ensure the emerging strategic competition we are witnessing across the global south creates a more sustainable prosperous and secure world. i am truly excited about what we have in store for the next two days learning from an array experts, practitioners and policymakers from around the world. lastly as a leader of the china hub program at the atlantic council leverages deep expertise on china across the council in recognition of the factors glow pack is simply toove to be understood without such a matrixed approach. and proud we are taking full

advantage of our unique collaborative model during this conference regional and functional experts for more than half of the olympic council centers taking part in lightning us on everything from bri debt restructuring to china ecosystee adoption of chinese technologies and standards to the export of surveillance tools in developing society. thank you colleagues from across the council for their participation's groundbreaking conference. conference at which i would like to underscores only possible to the c notre dame university with my friend longtime collaborator. the coleader of the china global south initiative associate professor of politics at notre dame school of global affairs. who i will introduce now. ands felt that will protect the africa. he is been a visiting faculty member and nyu at shanghai. as a policy analyst on the china

economic security review commission and has been senior american foreign policy council since 2006. before comingrsity of texas at austin. josh come over to you.[applause] >> thank you, david. appreciate the introduction it's wonderful to be here with you today. and let me begin by saying the china global south initiative is a transformative and that it is bringing together top research university of notre dame all of the benefits that come with that with a top washington think tank that david was mentioning in his speech. it really does for that the interest of both institutions and abroad to work with dave to be a part of it. it is with the cgs i we will be engaging with people from this conference and goingg forward.

throughout the global south and working on issues in the globa■l south. that is a fundamental to the ambitions going forward he and i will build talk about in the moment but what i want to do isr us put them on the table for us to discuss later. i first want to say it is pretty amazing here that we are talking about this in this environment because in 2007 mitchell and i did a book called china and the developing world beijing strategy for the 21st century. we can barely find a publisher will be did it was a two tone cover. i don't think wee sold many of them and it was not that interested to see all of the interest that have come about since it is quite fantastic. and in some ways we owe too mr. xi jinping himself he has decided to make a change instead of biting and hiding he striving for■wt of that effort to strive for achievement he's been engaging the global south and the rest of the world inag wayse

have not seen t before. and so a lot of this development we are seeing over the last decade is because mr. xi jinping decided he was going to strive for achievement.nder that rubrie this increasing tension developing between the united states and china some have called a new cold war. it is within this context the middle countries in the global south in particular become geo strategically important as well in ways that may be reminiscent in some ways of the way theye■y were important during the first cold war. however, i would like to suggest this is a different world we live in today. during the first cold war united states found itself in proxy wars with the soviet union all around the globe. africa, angola, ethiopia, we are fighting with the chinese. so i do not believe in the current world this a current cold war if you will that we are in is going to lead to proxy

wars across the globe. in fact in many ways u.s.re inte same things. stability, growth, prosperity, how they go about doing that can be very different but the fact their interest in the same outcomes or similar outcomes can be juxtaposed with russia in places like the african continent is a more than willing to benefit from chaos. so i thit u.s. have their strategic rivalry but it's in the global south there may be opportunities not for cooperation but for d confliction so at least we do not come into conflict with each other as it occurred during the first cold war.ng said, i do bee our study of this this 2007 -- 224 has been under a time of china's great rice lives in the chinese economy growing by leaps and bounds during this period we have seen chinese population growing in this. we have chinese going out as a strategy says more and more privacy china striving for achievements. and so one of the questions that

hangs over our conference here today is of these trends continue? the shanghai academy of social science new information indicates china's population may fall by 60% century. if you have china 500 million people at the fundamentally different kind of country than at 1.4 billion f major headwinds as many of you know. it looks unlikely for systemic reasons those headwinds are going to relent.■! so if our entire discussion is predicated on the fact we're going to see continued chinese growth that would be wrong. part of our discussion here the past but to understand what these new trends mean for china's engagement in the global south. i hope we can talk about this transition moment. i feel we are in right now. there is also one of the thing i want to add here. this is perhaps my own view i'm interested to hearst what others say throughout our conference here today. gaia, in my view see china using

what i would say relatively order to stoke anti- american anti-western sentiment in the global south and the ways that serve its own interest. i wonder sometimes if this is not an effort to what we might call confirmation bias. there is a lot of residual resentment of the global south because of the it is easy fodder to come in and simply sayme the west is bad, it remains bad was bad in his bed now. that will serve china's interest in terms of strategic competition with the united states. but my question for our panelists many have flown in from countries all around the world is, isn't really serving the interest in the global south to make a choice? are they better not served by engagingin as many countries as they can and benefiting from thoseom relationships? is this effort to split the world between a more pro- china and u.s. camps not empathetic old to the interestic large? i do not want to necessarily say one way or the other. i'm very interested to hear from

people who have come to hear their views on this. i am concerned we have a country in china which is an authority's a esage of a diversity equity and inclusion to essentially galvanize progressives around the world behind us because i find it very interesting, fascinating and troubling people around the world have not recognize this is i'm curious to hear from our many panelists about their views on this particular issue or that they believe china's late in the country's down this primrose path or whether not china strictly the leader of the globalth south that it pretendso be. those are the few plenary comments and want to put out on the table to prime our discussion what i want to do is introduceto dean of the school of global affairs dean scott appleby without whom we would not be sitting here today whom i would not be sitting here today. dean appleby is a professor of

history at the university of notre dame. he is the author of 15 books he was the founding dean of the key's school of global affairs finishing off a second term now. and i think cute school of global affairs has eight or nine years of history and he has led us from our birth pangs to wherr college within the university. i'm very pleased h bend to intre conference or today. and so why don't i introduce dean scott appleby to the podium? [applause] >> thank you, josh appeared to think with those preliminary remarks, as extensive as they were we canhe adjourn the meetig now t and enjoy the false spring outside. it would be a false spring and south bend it might be real spring here in d.c.

verbally please have this opportunity to thank the atlantic council for part of notre dame school of local affairs. which seems to be promising and exciting projectcs in the global south. notre dame aspires to be a force for good in the world. universiy or force for good. although you may be more familiar with go irish. in order to participate in do gooding we must engage beyond the classroom. partnership and the key's school is an example of its engagement looks like.

we are currently in our ninth or tenth year of existence depending upon who is counting. the 18th or 20th year by the way i'm counting it. we have been keeping up over these 10 years we have been keeping a pretty phonetic case of hiring world-renowned scholars to staff our interdisciplinary research and teaching and policy school including doctor joshua eisenman from who we justin heard. leadse china's presenc and africa in particular never losing sight of the domestic drivers, largerpl foreign policy context and economic dimensions of that presence. notre dame more broadly, our asian experts from several disciplines track and evaluate the numerous ways china's role

across its spheres of influence in shaping the future of its own people as well as international order. at the keio school i itself, given the array of social scientists, legal scholars, international conflict mediators, engineers, historians, anthropologists and environmental government experts that comprise our faculty, we pay particulars of china's polid presence on questions raised directly to the question of integral human development and human security. including poverty sustainability and good governments. we have some expertise already and are building stronger faculty every year. continue to build a factory that now numbers near 70.

it is best done in collaboration betweenwe and diplomats, policymakers, china experts and an array of areas related of specialization. that's why colleagues participating in thisgu conferee and victoria hoy in celebrating this partnership from which we have already learned a great deal and by means of which we can further leverage the schools in notre dame's growing expertise in a study of china. last but not least i think the atlantic council for hosting this remarkable two day conference and take the lead in organizing it. who oversees the school's washington d.c. office which is just down the street. we look forward in the coming

months in organizing and variety of events on china and the global south and host in the next major conference of this promising partnership. over too dave. thank you dean appleby. now it is my honor to introduce general todd d walters to kick off the conference on behalf of the atlantic council. the aanr strategy and security. in 2022 general walters completed a distinguished 40 year active duty career in the■> u.s. a force and commander of u.s. european command. lead in transition and ensured the covenant teen health crisis led nato's allies and partners

through the organization's response of the largest invasion of european nation since world war ii. over to you. [applause] dave, thank you very much. the on behalf of the atlantic council's my privilege to welcome all of you for this great gathering. know it is a strategic imperative to improve eglobal ieg military and economic spectrum. the more we can get at strategic integration the greater our ability to promote her democratic values. from a firsthand experience perspective the great competition and play with respect to every single tidbit of information that came out of moscow and was instantaneously

received in iran, china, and north korea. that reveals how fast the globe spins in the 21st century and the dramatic need of what we need to take place in all across the entire globe. on behalfn of the atlantic council we are very excited to have all of you for this gathering and welcome. [applause] moving right along it is my pleasure for the keynote speaker. his assistant and pacific affairs. the bin in september of 2021 per he is a career member of the foreign service class rank of a minister. served as senior director of national security council 2017.

he served asnd deputy and beijig were we met many years ago. he served at multiple overseas posts as i said in beijing, tokyo he speaks chinese and japanese and holds a degree from the university. a masters degree that's what he has thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> good morning everyone. >> thank you for the kind introduction. thank you to the atlantic council and the university of notre dame opportunity to get out of my office it's always a pleasure toe all. the assistant secretary of state for east asian pacific affairs the honor of a lifetime to have this job. speak and give my focs on the region i do not often have the opportunity to speak about countries beyond those in the region.

as secretary blinken said that people's republic of china is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and increasingly the economic diplomatic and technological capacity. at the major player on most policy issues and on most regions. that is in part why we approach it through a global lens. as more interconnected than ever. in the middle east are a tragic reminder that what happens in one region may have a direct impact on oths. that is at fact the local china hub in notre dame is clear look at the panelists the participants here today critically you're both ensuring voices from around the world are heard and amplified. secretary blinken recently said we recognize leadership starts with listening. under sh ped others so we can

find common c ground. why they are so important to space for free flow of ideas and it's why i'm so honored to be here today. let me say a little bit u.s. gl. at a macro level it's fundamentally what a broader u.s. foreign policy is all about. creating a world that is open, free, prosperous and secure. a world where ideas can flow freely and individuals can say economic partnerships and broad-based growth in more countries can choose their own path.ir rules, nms outdated and dangerous concepts of mites making rates for this is not a world for the nice is to define or advance alone. quite the contrary. we can only nurture together with their allies partners and friends. th's why our main focus and i

spend the bulk of my time every single day. we deepen the alliance and partnerships in pursuit of this affirmative vision. but of course we cannot deny strategicc competition is also a critical part of this moment. and since china is the focus of this conference let's take a little bit ofak time to explain our approach to the prc. the prc has itself benefited from the stability and opportunity the international order provides. the undermine the principles rather than reinforce them prc has undermined them in the south china sea where it is advancing on lawful maritime claims that threaten peace and security, freedom of navigation and commerce. and economic sphere trade restrictions on countries had taken sovereign decisions not to beijing's liking. undermined them and her own backyard where it commitsof trao

harass, surveilling intimidate people around the world including our own citizens. in short over the past decade prcs home and more aggressive abroad. asprc has proposed global development initiative the gdi the global security initiative in the global civilization initiative. as a strategic guidance for its alternative vision. the belt and wrote initiative is a platform for its implementation. the let the heart of the international system you have the gsi contradicts un charter by privileging the security interest of large states over smaller ones. and it d legitimizes their right to collective defense enshrined in the un charter.gci seeks to e rights as unique privileges of the west. rather than inherent and universal rights.oí

and fortin standards related to environmental and social protections as well as debt and sustainability. prc is actively and supports for its govnm giving competing visions of the will the relationship of prc is one of at the same time the united states is committed to managing this competition responsibly. so that it does not veer into miscalculation or conflict. we are always willing to work at the prc were interest online and there is an imperative to do so. that's evident in her recent cooperation transnational challenges such as climate encounter at narcotics falling between president biden present she in california. the strategy we put forward for our approach to the prc challenge that's what secretary blinken laid out in the speak nearly two years ago.

our paradigm is invest, align, and pete. her streth home. our competitive, our innovation, our democracy. our efforts with allies welcome of common purpose and common costs hardest in the two key assets we competee with chia to defend our interest and build our interest for the future. the state department would primarily focus on a line and competitive of our. strategy it let me share a little bit about what we have achieved in those areas. first on a line, united states unique comparative advantage in the world we believe is arcs during a o alliances and individual partnerships for the past three years we have been renewing, rejuvenating and reimagining them. evident to the traditional alliances and partnerships again we have reenergized the quad countries include of course india, austria, japan five times

since march 2021. put forward major f initiativesn infra structure maritime security public-ivateic partnerships, climate health, critical emerging technologies in space. similarly in 2022 after welcoming the leaders to historc special summit we upgraded our partnership to a strategic partnership we been open to the center right here in washington d.c. in partnership with washington state university launched a new focus cabinet level engagement on health, climate, the environment and energy transportation women's c empowerment. we sustain top-level participation lonst state on u.s. trade representative. which we are partnering groupings for example last september we launched which is a

new multilateral form that brings together 32 coso lancet countries aoss four continents, to address a broad range of issues economic development environmental protection to science and technology. to organize the first set up a second on 20 to one of the apartment over one third of governments around the world to take meaningful steps to build more resilient democraci combat corruption on the fed human rights. last year he coasted the second summit for democracy with leaders of costa rica, the netherlands of republic of the republic of zambia. this diverse group of cohost underscores the universalal dese for accountable transparent and rights respecting governorates governance wevery much look foro hosting the next summit for democracy. in september 2023 for the second year in a row president biden has the leaders of t the pacific islands for a u.s. pacific island summit. buildi u historic first

summit in 2022 the president reaffirmed the u.s. commitment to our shared regional priorities and dm.in including tackling the climate crisis advancing economic growth, promoting sustainable development,urity, countering illegal unreported fishing and expanding our people to people ties. in other words i think the summit with the pacific island leaders is what american foreign policy is about. meeting our partners where they live. i understand with their top needs and prairies are and working together. that is our affirmative vision. and finally, our commitment to engage in part it is evident as we deepen our bilateral relationships with the countries, institutions and people of emerging partner economies. our with the lancet counsel refers to as the global south for this a lot of controversy around that term but you have us with it.

during historic leader visits in 2023 we upgraded bilateral relationships of vietnam and indonesia to comprehensive strategic partnerships. december 2022 we hosted the second africa leaders summit which includes delegations from all 49 invited african countries and the african union. union alongside members of civilil society and e private sector. building on this historic summit 17 cabinet u.s. government leaders visited 26 countries in africa in 2023. meanwhile in the pacific my areas of responsibility we have we intend to openndn opening embassy with the government. u.s. embassy and we recognize the cook islands. a sovereign independent nation and establish diplomatic relations. but it is no enough to just

show up. it is not enough to just hold conferences and summits it is aboutel delivering. secretary blinken often says we do not want countries to have to choose between us and the prc but we want to hel choice and te their decisions free from coercion. of our time this we are competing with the prc to offer a better value proposition in developing countries. one that is in line with their interests and values. and supports their ability to make their own sovereign decisions again free from coercion. last year's meetings for example we reaffirmed our commitment to sustainable development goals recognition when countries come together under a common development vision, they have the capacity to deliver for people and the planet. as a a long-standing leader in al theo's remains the single largest bilateral

donor investing over $100 billion in oda over the last two years alone. this includes over 43 billion to help end poverty. over 20 billion economic growth which■l is $16 billion to pro- e justice and good governance seg 16 part u.s. is also the largest provider of humanitarian aid at a time of unprecedented need. including in gaza secretary blinken has visited the region five times the since conflict began in october and where we have ensured delivery of aid to address the ongoing suffering of theal since january 2020 when the u.s. provided $17.5 billion to tackle global hunger. more than 50% of budget. we are devoting a billion dollars annually feed the future to the u.s. government global food securityy initiative to strengthen food systems, social safety s nets and nutrition and

more than 40 countries. were also strengthen food o inie division for adapted crops and soils. this was launched in partnership with the african union the fao it's not mobilizing the international community to boost agricultural productivity and nutrition by investing more and expanding access toiverse climate adaptive props and fertile healthy soils. we have directed $150 million in support for the vision we rallied a b government, corporations and nonprofits to work alongside us in support of these goals. we are closing the infrastructure gapn developing countries rpi catalyzing investments and values driven, high-impact and quality infrastructure and related investments. we come onto the g7 partners have already mobilized more than $30 billion for the collective commitment of $600 billion in infra structure financing by

2027. pgi in partnership with european union art making a series of transformative investments in the economic order which boosts development connecting africa from angola's across the drc and zambia with port upgrades, and it went upgraded rail lines, bridges and roads, new green power project 4g and 5g access to trusted vendors and agrisiss development among the multitude of other projects. pgi announced projects that will deliver 500 megawatts of power, enough to provide electricity for more than a millionor people 900,000 tons of carbon emission every year, create thousands ofs more for americans bring critical minerals like copper to global markets to support the clean energy transition. we've also recently launched

landmark economic core door together with saudi arabia uae and the eu we are layering transformative investments across most multiple sectors securing supply chains and bolstering regional connectivity. imac has the potential to usher in a new area of connectivity with eight row weight linked to ports connected by the middle east. this will createoa novel to facilitate h trade access to electricity facilitate clean energy distribution and streen points. we are also forging nurturing partnerships deliver federal finance climate action for example we are engaged in just energy transition partnerships with south africa, indonesia and vietnam tobi accelerate their ambitious energy transitions. strengthen the policy regulatory environment for clean energy investment and build the

pipeline of clean energy projects. we co- lead international partners group ipg for the indonesia with japan who work with our partners in the glasco financial alliance for a net zero two mobile is over $20 billion in public and privaten finance. we are working with ipg partners to mobilize 15.5 billion and 8.5 billion in public and private financing for vietnam and south africa respectively. part and parcel of delivering on our promises is also ensuring we are seeking to deliver for those two hav the table when we are making decisions that impact them. that is why secretary blinken said our goal is not just to preserve the order, but also to modernize it and insurer represents the interests of all nations so it can address new global challenges whether it is climate change or global pandemics like

covid-19. that iss all we also support increasing the number ofonpermat representatives at the un security council. this includes permanentnc seats for those nations we have long supported and permanent seats for companies caribbean. it is also why we support african union's bid to join the g20 a reflection of the jeep 20 vitality the important role of africa in the global economy. it is why we support a proposed deputy managing director role in executive board chair to give greaterte voice to the global south. so in conusion, in this incredibly long list of policies and initiatives i hope it is clear that while we are in the midst o future of the international order, we also refused to see the s world solely through those termsá indeed we engage all regions and all nations across all of these

issues. not in terms of what we are against but inare for. what we are four is a free, open, prosperous and secure international order. we draw strength knowing that what we arere for as a goal shad across geographies and people. we are for an order tha a individuals to enjoy the basic universal rights and freedoms. provides all nations that sign up to these principles an opportunity to participate in and have a role in shaping these rules. that empowers all nations to continually raise the standard of livg for their citizens and one that is free from aggression, coercion, and intimidation. that is our vision for the international order. we will continue building the astrongest possible coalition of nations to advance this vision and to prove -- improve the lives of the americano people ad peoples around the world. thank you very much for inviting me.

thank you for the opportunity to be able to share our views and i wish youy a very successful conference. thank you very much. [applause] >> that we have about a 10 minute break here. we're going to reconvene at 9:30 5:00 p.m. for a first panel with david as the moderator. [applause]■hgç ♪ three years ago democracy base its greatest threat in civil war and today though democracy remains unbounded and unbroken. [applause] >> thursday president beidler's annual state of the union adfgdress during a joint session of congress to outline his priorities for the country.

watch our live coverage began program followed by presidentiew biden's state of the union speech than alabama senator will give the republican response and get your reaction by taking your phone calls, text and social media comments. wash the state of the union address live thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, seespend our free mobile video p or online at c-span.org. [applause] >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage you can find it anytime online at videos of key hearings, debates and other events future markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on selected videos for this timeline told makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through spend a few minutes on c-span points of