Revisiting the Sunnylands Summit: Where Does the Relationship Go from Here?

Not since Nixon met Mao in ’72 have the top leaders from the United States and China engaged in such extended informal discussions as they did last week at Sunnylands. On Thursday, June 13, at 5 p.m. EDT, the National Committee offered a discussion with two of the United States’ most thoughtful and best informed China watchers, Ambassadors J. Stapleton Roy and Jeffrey Bader. In an on-the-record teleconference moderated by NCUSCR President Steve Orlins, the two reflected on the Summit and offered up their perspectives on where the relationship will go from here. A question and answer session followed the Ambassadors’ remarks.

Ambassador Roy is the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He retired from the Foreign Service in January 2001 after a career spanning 45 years with the U.S. Department of State. A fluent Chinese speaker, Mr. Roy spent much of his Foreign Service career in East Asia, where his assignments included Bangkok (twice), Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing (twice), Singapore, and Jakarta. He also specialized in Soviet affairs and served in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Before taking up Russian studies, he was one of the first two Foreign Service Officers to study Mongolian. Mr. Roy rose to become a three-time ambassador, serving as the top U.S. envoy in Singapore (1984-86), the People’s Republic of China (1991-95), and Indonesia (1996-99). In 1996, he was promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service. His final post with the State Department was as Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research. Ambassador Roy was born in Nanjing, China of American missionary parents. In 1956, he graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where he majored in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Ambassador Bader is the John C. Whitehead Senior Fellow in International Diplomacy at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Bader returned to Brookings after serving in the Obama administration as senior director for East Asian affairs on the National Security Council from January 2009 to April 2011. Prior to his appointment to the Obama administration, Dr. Bader was the first director of the John L. Thornton China Center and senior fellow of the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. He brings to Brookings profound expertise in U.S. foreign policy and Asian security after three decades of experience in the Department of State, National Security Council, and office of the United States Trade Representative. His latest book, Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy, was published by Brookings Press in March 2012.