Drawing on nearly three decades of diplomatic experience and her current work at Yale, Susan Thornton will assess the current trajectory of U.S.–China relations at a moment of renewed geopolitical tension. Based on long-standing official leadership and unofficial engagement via “Track II” dialogues, Thornton will outline prospects for limited cooperation on global challenges – from combatting pandemics to nuclear security – and describe strategic choices the two powers face in light of competition and continued interdependence.  Thornton will also explore how Asian partners interpret recent U.S. policy shifts, at times balancing security concerns with economic ties abroad.  This talk will invite the audience to consider whether a pragmatic, interest-based framework for engagement remains possible—and necessary—in the current era.

Speaker: Susan A. Thornton is a retired senior U.S. diplomat with almost three decades of experience with the U.S. State Department in Eurasia and East Asia. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. She is also the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Until July 2018, Thornton was Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State and led East Asia policymaking amid crises with North Korea, escalating trade tensions with China, and a fast-changing international environment. In previous State Department roles, she worked on U.S. policy toward China, Korea and the former Soviet Union and served in leadership positions at U.S. embassies in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus and China. Thornton received her M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and her B.A. from Bowdoin College in Economics and Russian. She serves on several nonprofit boards and speaks Mandarin and Russian.

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