ICWA fall dinner 2024

“Once we understand Xi Jinping’s intentions, we can better formulate our policies. But right now we don’t know what his intentions are.” So said The New York Times diplomatic correspondent and former Beijing bureau chief Edward Wong at ICWA’s fall dinner on Nov. 8, 2024 about the Chinese leader’s plans for his country’s burgeoning military, especially over Taiwan.

Three days after Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency set up a looming sea-change in US foreign policy, the talk began with wide-ranging discussion about Edward’s book At the Edge of Empire—part family memoir, part history and reportage—in conversation with the former Los Angeles Times Beijing correspondent Barbara Demick.

It was part of a lovely evening with friends, trustees and former fellows, including returning fellow Aron Ouzilevski who reported at the US Institute of Peace earlier in the day about his Tbilisi-based fellowship researching Russian emigre communities across Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond. See video here.