Congratulations to Lindsey Halligan—former insurance lawyer and third-runner-up in the Miss Colorado USA pageant—on her first indictment, which is almost as long as a Truth Social post.

Omg 🍿🍿🍿

Incompetence, laced with malice. This is not a serious way to do anything. And the more of this we get, the less we'll be able to plan and accomplish serious things.

The White House convinced many its focus is “illegal” immigration. Then: —Today’s near-ban on LEGAL high-skill work visas —Ended LEGAL refugee visas —Slashing LEGAL student visas —Ban all/most LEGAL visas for 17 countries —Ending LEGAL parole & TPS for millions Not a “crackdown”. A lawless purge.

For those who missed this lively discussion in-person last week, here is the video of our program at JF Books on "New Perspectives on U.S.-China Policy" featuring @kyleichan.bsky.social, Elsa Kania, Yingyi Ma & @carlminzner.bsky.social from our current cohort of Project Fellows:

Delighted to be part of this important initiative.

Our third cohort fellows have enjoyed a wonderfully productive week in Washington DC! Many thanks to everyone in town who so kindly lent their time, energy & attention to dialogues such as the one below. Stay tuned for the products of all this work and discussion later this Fall.

Great audience (with outstanding questions!) for our third cohort fellows @kyleichan.bsky.social, Yingyi Ma, @carlminzner.bsky.social, & Elsa Kania tonight at JF Books

Highest level of support since Gallup started asking this question a quarter century ago

This is incorrect: (1) Department of War was just the Army, not the Navy and Marine Corps; and (2) the President does not have the authority, only Congress can make that change in the law. Be better, @npr.org.

Many thanks to JF Books for hosting this event in Washington, DC next week featuring 4 of our current Project Fellows (Yingyi Ma, @kyleichan.bsky.social, Carl Minzner, & Elsa Kania) previewing the U.S.-China policy recommendations they are developing through our Project. Full details below:

I am begging my fellow Dems to emerge from the reflexive “it’s a trap” position on these issues and realize that some things are very simple: the public doesn’t like the federal government turning the military against its own citizens.The public doesn’t like the armed occupation of a city.Period.

The Baha’i faith has deep, humanistic teachings we can all benefit from, @arthurcbrooks.bsky.social writes. He shares five lessons from the religion for a happier life: https://theatln.tc/oxYXBhmt

On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout. On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar. This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media. Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

The places where Trump has sent troops in DC so far tell part of the story, writes Helene Cooper. Most have been seen near the National Mall, large monuments and other tourist-heavy areas rather than where the most violent crime happens. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

8/8 We both know critical minerals matter for everything from defense to technology. But one side is locking up supply chains while the other is still figuring out the strategy.

"In your home country bill as an expert on foreign law, in foreign country bill as an expert on home country's law." — comparative law proverb

We’re hiring! Please consider joining the team as we work to build up one of the leading hubs for academically-informed, policy-relevant thinking and analysis about China’s relations with the U.S. and the rest of the world too

We are delighted to invite applications for our new Program Manager position! This is a full-time position, with benefits, @upenn.edu. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis through Friday, August 29. The full job posting is available on our website at: global.upenn.edu/future-of-us...

Someone forgot to take down this webpage: www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

The Federal Programs Branch (the DOJ unit tasked w/legal defense of policies like birthright citizenship, slashing Harvard funds, etc.) has lost nearly 2/3 of its staff...69 of the roughly 110 lawyers have "voluntarily left since November or have announced plans to leave."

Only when you're denied pierogi you know you've gone too far.

During our @penn-us-china.bsky.social workshop with Tsinghua CISS in Beijing in late June, Peking University Prof Wang Jisi delivered some informal lunchtime keynote remarks which have just been published together with his replies to various questions from our group: mp.weixin.qq.com/s/cIQxV4ge9e...

We are deeply grateful to The Henry Luce Foundation for its generous new round of support for this Project, which will contribute to our ability to convene and work with three more fellowship cohorts in the coming years, beginning in Spring 2026. Full announcement at global.upenn.edu/future-of-us...

thinking about the seemingly counterintuitive fact... property prices in Beijing/Shanghai are comparable to other global cities like London/Paris, but the average income is far lower. price to income ratio in SH is 50 times. In London it's 12-14. but home ownership in Chinese cities is far higher..

While we wait to hear more news out of the U.S.-China talks in Stockholm, I had the distinct honor of being interviewed by the great @trudyrubin.bsky.social on the present state of the bilateral relationship for the @fpri.bsky.social Asia Program yesterday. Here's the recording of our conversation:

Many thanks to @busbyj2.bsky.social, @jwdwerner.bsky.social, Yingyi Ma, Abby Coplin, Maggie Jackson, and Matt Mingey from our 3rd cohort of fellows for joining @neysunm.bsky.social online last night to discuss the cohort's June visit to Beijing and what were their key takeaways from the visit:

In late June, our current fellows traveled to Beijing for a week of intensive dialogues with a wide range of Chinese and foreign interlocutors. In this webinar on Wednesday 7/30, some of the fellows will share their key take-aways, in conversation with Project director @neysunm.bsky.social

Am very much looking forward to moderate this US-China Education Trust webinar on Tuesday in conversation with Susan Shirk, Peter Hessler, & @ncuscr.bsky.social’s Savannah Billman, reflecting on how study in China impacted their lives and careers

With a 3rd round of U.S.-China trade talks now scheduled for July 27-30 in Stockholm, I'm very much looking forward to discuss the present moment in bilateral relations with my dear friend Trudy Rubin in this @fpri.bsky.social webinar next Thursday 7/31:

I'm happy to co-author this piece with Prof. Jerome A. Cohen A Decade After China’s Crackdown on Lawyers, Persecution and Resistance Persist www.thewirechina.com/2025/07/20/a...

To what possible end? Absolute madness, just pure lawlessness.

A June afternoon during my recent visit to Beijing, I visited the Center for International Security & Strategy at Tsinghua U to record this podcast interview with Prof Da Wei. One of my favorite conversations from throughout my 2 months in China, and I’m thrilled to see it posted on their feed today

It seems increasingly likely that we will be hiring (two positions — Political Behavior, broadly defined, and American Institutions!) at UIUC this year. I plan to add this link to all recruitment materials. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/d...

An American Scholar in China | @neysunm.bsky.social joins @connorechols.bsky.social to discuss his experience bringing American students and scholars to China—including one meeting in which his student pressed a Chinese official on human rights.

Thoughtful essay on an important topic, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to offer some ideas that are reflected in the piece as well.

I really enjoyed chatting with @connorechols.bsky.social for Nonzero World, getting a chance to reflect on some key takeaways from my last two months in China, especially in relation to the issue of academic exchange. Full video here youtube.com/watch?v=Sqvx..., and a representative clip below:

If this were happening in Beijing or Shanghai, Western reporters there would be making it big-time news. (Yes, China vastly more repressive and controlled. But they don't PRETEND to have First Amendment, habeus corpus, immigrant-asylum, etc.) Did not expect ever to see this in my home territory.

Honored to have had the incredible opportunity to engage with outstanding Chinese academics on timely issues related to US-China relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing the other week.

This is the best article I have seen explaining China’s push for clean energy and contrasting it with Trump’s doubling down on the fossil fuel industry (for domestic consumption and exports). A must read. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Fairly reported account of our panel discussion last Friday:

I’m proud to have co-organized at Tsinghua University the best China law and politics workshop that any of our distinguished participants could recall

Tonight I had the distinct honor of lecturing to the just arrived cohort of 100 Princeton-in-Beijing language students, started by showing them the class photo of my own PiB cohort from summer 1995. The combination was so moving, I had to fight of tears before starting to speak

It was a great honor to share my thoughts at some length on how the landscape of U.S.-China relations looks to me now, especially through the prism of academic exchange, as part of the @scmpnews.bsky.social Open Questions interview series:

Interesting (and discouraging) example of how PRC desperation to whitewash their policies in Xinjiang hurts its international relations and makes it harder for those trying to maintain engagement with China. A 🧵regarding Princeton Press' trip to Xinjiang:

Here’s my extended conversation with CGTN’s Liu Xin on the present state of U.S.-China academic exchange — recorded after my @upenn.edu students visited China in May, but right before the arrival of the @penn-us-china.bsky.social fellows last week: youtube.com/watch?v=b2G9...

Each year, the centerpiece of our @penn-us-china.bsky.social fellows’ visit to Beijing is a 2 day workshop at Tsinghua University. This year’s discussions were simply outstanding. Many thanks again to my friend Da Wei for hosting us, and also this year to Prof. Wang Jisi for his keynote remarks

Our third cohort of @penn-us-china.bsky.social fellows have arrived in Beijing! Now in the midst of a very full and engaging week of dialogues, with many different interlocutors, all around town.