Identity, Race, and US-China Conflict

Sir Howard Kippenberger Visiting Chair in Strategic Studies Alastair Iain Johnston talked about the role of identity differences in the US-China conflict.

Wednesday 24 May 2023

Claims about differences in identity pervade foreign policy discourses in the United States and China. Sometimes these claims stress differences in political and ideological identity. Sometimes they stress differences in cultural identity. But sometimes these claims are about differences in ethnic, and even racial, identity. Discourses about identity differences tend to predict greater inter-group conflict. What role might these claimed differences in identity play in the intensification of the US-China rivalry?

Alastair Iain Johnston is the Gov. James Albert Noe and Linda Noe Laine Professor of China in World Affairs in the Government Department at Harvard University.