Events

Repression and political violence in China

Uyghur protestors in Hong Kong, 2019

Protestors wear masks symbolizing China's silencing of Uyghur Muslims (Hong Kong, 2019)

Repression and political violence in China

Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Naima Green-Riley, Paul Heer, Chen Wang, Philip B. K. Potter (moderator)

Friday, October 06, 2023
10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
Event Details

China's mistreatment of its Uyghur minority has drawn international condemnation and sanctions. This repression and other domestic security policies are hugely costly to China. Yet the Chinese Communist Party persists in its policies while also investing in public diplomacy efforts. Why?

Join us for a wide-ranging conversation to examine the intersection of repression in China, Chinese domestic and international security and diplomatic considerations, and U.S. policy perspectives. This event draws from the new book, Zero Tolerance: Repression and Political Violence in China’s Silk Road, by Miller Center Senior Fellow Philip Potter and Chen Wang.

This event is co-sponsored by UVA’s National Security Policy Center

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When
Friday, October 06, 2023
10:00AM - 11:00AM (EDT)
Where
ONLINE ONLY
Speakers
Sheena Chestnut Greitens headshot

Sheena Chestnut Greitens

Sheena Chestnut Greitens is associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where she directs the Asia Policy Program. She is also a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and an associate in research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. Her research focuses on American national security, East Asia, and authoritarian politics and foreign policy. Her first book, Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence (2016) received multiple academic awards. Her second book, on authoritarianism and diaspora politics in North Korea, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, and her third book manuscript is on internal security and Chinese grand strategy. Greitens has a BA from Stanford University, an MPhil from Oxford University, and a PhD from Harvard University.

Naima Green-Riley headshot

Naima Green-Riley

Naima Green-Riley is an assistant professor in the department of politics and at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She specializes in U.S. and Chinese foreign policy, focusing on public diplomacy and global information. Green-Riley also worked as a foreign service officer at the U.S. Department of State, serving as the public affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Alexandria, Egypt (2011–13) and as a consular officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, China (2014–15). She holds a BA in international relations from Stanford University, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School, and a PhD in political science from Harvard University.

Paul J. Heer headshot

Paul Heer

Paul Heer served for 30 years as a specialist on East Asian affairs in the US intelligence community. He served on the staff of the President’s daily brief and as a member of the senior analytic service at the Central Intelligence Agency prior to becoming the national intelligence officer for East Asia, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. He was the Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at MIT's Center for International Studies during 2015-2016 and later served as adjunct professor at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He holds a BA from Loras College, a MA in history from the University of Iowa, and a PhD in diplomatic history from The George Washington University.

Chen Wang headshot

Chen Wang

Chen Wang is an assistant professor of East Asian politics at the University of Idaho and co-author, with Philip Potter, of Zero Tolerance: Repression and Political Violence on China’s New Silk Road (2022). Wang’s research focuses on a variety of subjects in international security, including the role of leaders in international politics; causes and consequences of political violence, diplomacy and public opinion; and China's foreign and security policies. He received a BA and MA from Beijing’s University of International Relations, a MS in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in political science from the University of Virginia.

Philip Potter headshot

Philip B. K. Potter (moderator)

Philip B. K. Potter, a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, is an associate professor of politics and founding director of the National Security Policy Center in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He is also a university expert with the National Ground Intelligence Center, U.S. Army INSCOM. Potter has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Politics and the Journal of Global Security Studies and is an associate principal investigator for Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences (TESS). Potter has been a fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Related Reading

U.S. policy perspectives on repression and political violence in China