Oct. 4,
2017
ISSUE
No. 112
AMS Weekly Newsletter
Dedicated to the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations
In this week's newsletter we focus on recent trips made by Chinese and American diplomats and the evolving North Korea dynamic, Xi Jinping's recommendation to identify causes of terrorism as part of a proactive security plan, and a short video on Chinese bitcoin mining. 
Weekly Readings

In the last month, two seemingly unexpected trips of foreign ministers highlighted U.S.-China relations. State Councilor Yang Jiechi visited Washington on his way back to China in mid September; Rex Tillerson just visited Beijing. North Korea continues to take up critical space in the U.S.-China relationship, and Ambassador Fu Ying penned an op-ed for the Financial Times to take Beijing's problems with the U.S. approach public. More interestingly, a St udy Times article -- referencing a number of U.S. initiatives designed to pressure China over North Korea -- argues China's period of strategic opportunity has changed again and not for the better despite other Chinese triumphalism about President Trump.





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俗语 in Xi Jinping's Speeches

头痛医头
tóu tòng yī tóu

Meaning:  To treat the symptoms; reactive (rather than proactive)


Xi spoke at the  opening ceremony of the  86th INTERPOL General Assembly on Sept. 26 in Beijing. He described international security as a problem interwoven with politics, economics, culture, race, and religion. Xi said a seemingly simple security problem often isn't easily handled, but -- if it were -- we'd fall into a habit of reacting to the problem rather than proactively working towards preventing it. Offering terrorism as an example of a complex security problem, Xi pointed out that reliance on a single method or addressing only one facet of terrorism fails to resolve the root cause of terrorism.

Original: 一个看似单纯的安全问题，往往并不能简单对待，否则就可能陷入头痛医头、脚痛医脚的困境。

Seventh Annual China Defense and Security Conference

The Jamestown Foundation will host the Seventh Annual China Defense and Security Conference on Wednesday, October 11 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  This years' conference will examine the PLA's progress toward building an effective joint force, and what this means for U.S. interests and those of our allies in the East China Sea.

Tickets are $45-$65 and can be found here.
Video of the Week 

This short 10-minute video clip (with subtitles!) details the operations of a Chinese bitcoin mine and is great for readers who want to familiarize themselves with bitcoin and Chinese words specific to the world of digital currency.

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