William & Mary AidData China Convening

The US and its democratic allies face many challenges to their leadership on a global stage: the rise of China in an era of thinning multilateralism, eroding democratic norms, and resurgent great power competition is chief among them. At the same time, policymakers and practitioners often have woefully inadequate intelligence about how to answer even the most foundational questions to make sense of China’s influence, let alone assess how best to respond. Is China winning the world one Yuan at a time—why or why not? Which of China’s influence tools are most and least effective in advancing its interests? How much does China’s signature Belt and Road Initiative appear to have staying power or are we beginning to see buyer’s remorse among participating countries? In what areas should the US and allies cooperate, compete, or counter China’s overtures?

From June 22-24, 2022, William & Mary will convene a select group of 50-75 senior global leaders from government officials and legislators to representatives from the private sector, civil society, intergovernmental organizations, and academia for an inaugural three-day China Convening. The topic of conversation will be to separate myth from fact to better understand China’s growing global influence, the implications for countries on the receiving end of its overtures, and the possible response scenarios for the US and allies.  The W&M China Convening will showcase cutting-edge research on decoding China’s influence playbook from the tools to the outcomes and seek to stimulate evidence-informed dialogue among world leaders and thinkers leading to practical action to tackle intractable challenges.

Event RSVP will be available at a later date.