Description

  This grant would support a collaboration between the China Studies Program at CSIS and the Center for the Study of Contemporary China (CSCC) at the University of Pennsylvania. It would pair new generation scholars and practitioners, including from Penn’s Future of U.S.-China Relations project (current HLF grantee) and the Public Intellectuals Program (PIP) of the National Committee on US-China Relations (former HLF grantee), with junior lawmakers, Congressional staffers, and analysts and policymakers in U.S. government agencies through closed-door briefings and workshops, and joint CSIS-CSCC research efforts.   The project would be overseen by Jude Blanchette, the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, himself a PIP alum, and Jacques DeLisle, Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law & Professor of Political Science at Penn and Director of CSCC. A new and more contentious era of US-China relations, they observe, has led to a growing interest in China policy by nearly all corners of the U.S. government, but many do not have significant familiarity or expertise on China. By targeting junior lawmakers, staff, and others across government, the project seeks to inform and build relationships between those who will be shaping U.S.-China policy for the foreseeable future.
With the assistance of CSIS’s legislative affairs and government relations department, the project team would identify legislators with China exposure in their committee assignments, and their staff, and those in other areas of government (e.g., transportation, infrastructure, trade) who are new to the China space but need knowledge about China in their work. Through briefings and short policy memos, they would match these people with subject matter experts whose competencies and ideas are responsive to specific issues, policy concerns and legislative agendas. Blanchette has piloted this effort with briefings for U.S. Representative Andy Kim (D-NJ), the first Democratic member of Congress of Korean descent and the second overall, who se committees include the House Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Programming would be virtual or in-person, as circumstances allow.
The project furthers our goals to e quip policymakers and diplomats with the knowledge, tools and context to craft informed policy on Asia, and to prepare the next generation to engage with Asia. Our grant would support personnel and costs associated with the legislative affairs and government relations department to enable its staff to devote time to this project. Additional funding would come from the Freeman Chair in China Studies.
John Hamre, CSIS president and CEO, is an HLF Director.    Note: The funds for this grant would be drawn from the HLF Public Policy program allocation, as per agreement from Toby Volkman and Mariko Silver.   
 Submitted by Helena Kolenda