Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs and Adjunct Fellow at Pacific Forum, appeared on Al Jazeera’s July 10, 2023 Inside Story news talk program to discuss U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen’s visit to Beijing and US-China relations. Professor Larus stated that US firms are putting tremendous pressure on the Biden administration to foster a stable environment in which to do business with and in China. To repair US-China relations, both Washington and Beijing need to work to manage, rather than solve, irreconcilable differences.

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2023/7/10/repairing-relations-between-the-us-and-china

Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs and Adjunct Fellow at the Pacific Forum, commented to BBC Chinese on the advent of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing. Professor Larus indicated low expectations for the visit, stating that Washington and Beijing still disagree on key issues, including China’s increased military activity near Taiwan, disputes in the South China Sea, China’s support of Russia in the Ukraine war, trade and intellectual property disputes, and U.S. limits on the export of sensitive technology to China. She indicated that the Biden administration desired the meeting more than China’s leaders, a fact that was not lost on Beijing. Blinken cancelled his planned trip to Beijing after China’s spy balloon drifted over the U.S. It has taken several months to get the bilateral talks back on track, and largely at the U.S. initiative, making Blinken appear more as a supplicant than as an equal. Professor Larus stressed, however, that the two powers need to talk, particularly to avoid misunderstandings or accidents near Taiwan. Read more.

Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs, commented in the Financial Times that Washington views China’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IIU) fishing as a national security concern: fishing fleets deplete stocks and deprive coastal communities of critical food sources, but also can be pressed to supplement the maritime militia that supports China’s navy, coast guard & maritime police. Read more.

Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs, explained to the Saudi Al Sharq news service that comments by the U.S. military and government officials indicating possible dates for the outbreak of hostilities between the US and China are not predictions. Rather, they are designed to strengthen the ability of the U.S. military to respond to Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, particularly concerning Taiwan. Watch the segment.

Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus,  Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs, offered the guest lectures【2023年中美關係路徑】(The path of US-China relations in 2023) to undergraduate students at Taiwan’s Tamkang University in Tanshui on February 23 and 【中美關係中近期的關鍵問題】(Recent critical issues in US-China relations) to graduate students at National Cheng-chih University in Mucha, Taiwan on February 24. In both lectures,  Professor Larus indicated that China’s failure to allow an international investigation into the origins of Covid, repression in Xinjiang and nullification of the ‘one country, two systems’ formula in Hong Kong contributed to US  government and public suspicion of China well before the recent balloon controversy. Larus claimed that there is little to foster US-China cooperation in 2023.