APPLETON, WIS. — One of the most complex, important and rapidly changing bilateral relationships of the 21st century — the United States and China — will be the focus of Lawrence University’s 2008 Povolny International Studies Lecture Series.
Peter Hays Gries, associate professor and director of the Newman Institute for U.S.-China Security at the University of Oklahoma, opens the three-part series Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall, 102 with the address “Chinese Nationalism and Anti-Japanese Sentiment.” All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.
Gries will examine the factors behind a growing Chinese hostility toward Japan despite expanding economic relations between the two countries. Emboldened by a quarter century of economic growth, most Chinese no longer fear Japan and long-suppressed anger for the Japanese has resurfaced.
According to Gries, the “victor narrative” of China championed by Mao Tse-tung from the 1950s through the 1980s, has been challenged by a new “victim narrative” focusing on Chinese suffering during the 20th century, much of it at the hands of the Japanese, including atrocities like the “Rape of Nanking” during World War II.
“The emergence of a deep-rooted and popular anti-Japanese enmity in China today does not bode well for 21st Century Sino-Japanese relations,” said Gries. “As a result, Japanese increasingly fear China’s rise and possible future retribution for Japan’s wartime aggressions. The possibility of a Sino-Japanese arms race is increasingly real.”
Gries’ scholarship focuses on nationalism, China’s domestic politics and foreign policy and the political psychology of international affairs. He is the author of the book “China’s New Nationalism” and co-edited “State and Society in 21st-Century China.” He was appointed the Harold J. & Ruth Newman Chair in U.S.-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma in 2006 after five years in the political science department at the University of Colorado.
Other scheduled speakers and topics for this year’s series are:
• Feb. 13 — “Strategic Dimensions of U.S.-China Relations,” Phillip Saunders, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies
• Feb. 25 — “The Taiwan Strait Issue and U.S.-China Relations,” Richard Bush ’69, director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.
The “U.S.-China Relations” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.
