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Graham Allison Dialogue | Munk Debates

December 27, 2022

Graham Allison Dialogue

The deteriorating relationship between the US and China.

Guests
Graham Allison

About this episode

It’s no secret that relations between China and the US are at an all time low. And at the center of this fraught relationship is the question of Taiwan: China is moving closer to asserting its territorial rights over the island, while US President Joe Biden has pledged to defend Taiwan, even going so far as sending defensive weapons to protect the country against a Chinese invasion. How should a superpower like the US respond to a rising power like China? Foreign policy expert Graham Allison joins us for a wide reaching conversation about this important moment in history, and how shared interests in the climate, technology, finance, and health could force these powerful rivals to become unwilling partners.

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Guests

Graham Allison

“If the US said they were going to recognize Taiwan as an independent country, it's quite likely that Beijing would act violently…that’s the fastest path to getting us to nuclear war.”

Graham Allison

“If the US said they were going to recognize Taiwan as an independent country, it's quite likely that Beijing would act violently…that’s the fastest path to getting us to nuclear war.”

Graham Allison is the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard University and a leading analyst of national security with special interests in nuclear weapons, Russia, China, and decision-making. He was the Founding Dean of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and served as Director of its Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs which is ranked the “#1 University Affiliated Think Tank” in the world. As Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Clinton and Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, he has been a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Advisory Board for every Secretary from Weinberger to Mattis. His first book, Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971), ranks among the all-time bestsellers with more than 500,000 copies in print. Dr. Allison’s latest book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? (2017), is a national and international bestseller.

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