Cabot-Zhang Lecture explores US-China Relations

The McDonnell Academy Cabot Corporation-Xinsheng Zhang Endowed Lectureship at Washington University in St. Louis presents a discussion on US-China relations.

A U.S. “Consensus” on China Policy? Moving Beyond a Misguided Narrative

Thursday, October 10, 3:30 PM

Anheuser Busch Dining Room
Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center
Danforth Campus, WashU

A reception will immediately follow the presentation and audience Q&A, all within the scheduled time frame.

Ali Wyne

Senior Research and Advocacy Advisor on U.S.-China Relations
International Crisis Groups

Ali Wyne is senior research and advocacy advisor, U.S.-China, at the International Crisis Group. Ali reports on and analyses the development of U.S. policy toward China in the U.S. Congress and the executive branch. He helps to formulate Crisis Group’s recommendations for easing tensions, managing crises, and preventing conflicts between Washington and Beijing, and works to introduce them into debates among U.S. policymakers and thought leaders.

Ali joined Crisis Group in January 2024. He previously worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2008-09), the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (2009-12), the State Department (2013), the RAND Corporation (2017-20), and Eurasia Group (2020-23). He has also been a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Kennedy School, Ali is a security fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a former David Rockefeller fellow with the Trilateral Commission. He is the author of “America’s Great-Power Opportunity: Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition” (Polity, 2022) and a co-author of “Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World” (MIT Press, 2013).

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Program

3:30PM INTRODUCTIONS

• Laura Benoist, Director, McDonnell International Scholars Academy
• Vijay Ramani, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and International Affairs; Roma B. & Raymond H. Wittcoff Distinguished University Professor; Executive Director, McDonnell International Scholars Academy

3:40PM LECTURE

Ali Wyne
A U.S. “Consensus” on China Policy? Moving Beyond a Misguided Narrative

4:30 PM RECEPTION
Immediately Following

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About Cabot-Zhang Lecture

For over 10 years the Cabot Corporation – Xinsheng Zhang Endowed Lectureship series has offered unique opportunities for students and faculty at WashU, along with the St. Louis community, to learn about issues of global leadership, particularly in China.

The series has been made possible by a generous gift from Cabot Corporation honoring the leadership and service of Xinsheng Zhang, through the establishment of the Cabot Corporation – Xinsheng Zhang Endowed Lectures Fund to the McDonnnell International Scholars Academy. It hosts distinguished guest speakers in business, academia, government, and the non-profit sector, with an emphasis on China.

In 2015, Xinsheng Zhang became Shell Group Vice President, Executive Chairman of Shell Companies in China. Before joining Shell, Zhang was a member of the executive committee of Cabot Corporation and vice president and general manager of Cabot Asia Pacific Region, with 11 manufacturing facilities and seven offices.

Zhang is a Canadian citizen and native of China. He received his undergraduate education at Shiyan Normal School in Hubei, holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Rubber Research and Design Institute in Beijing, and earned a PhD in polymer science from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Academica Sinica).