Friends and Foes of Liberty

Ronald McKinnon, the William D. Eberle Professor of International Economic at Stanford University and author of Unloved Dollar Standard: From Bretton Woods to the Rise of China, talks about the benefits that America derives from--and the responsibilities that it has--under the dollar standard. He discusses the harm that U.S. monetary policy has inflicted on emerging countries like China and Brazil, and explains why an appreciation in China's currency would not tilt the U.S.-China trade balance in America's favor.

Chinese culture can contribute significantly to a country's success, according to William Ratliff, research fellow and former curator of the Americas Collection at the Hoover Institution and research fellow at the Independent Institute. Dr. Ratliff argues that culture in general and Chinese culture in particular matter a great deal to a nation's economic and political development. He spoke about the role of culture, the resounding success of the Asian Tigers--Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan--in the latter half of the 20th century, and the unfulfilled expectations of the Arab Spring. Dr. Ratliff has written and lectured on the politics of Asia and Latin America and how traditional cultures and institutions influence modern conditions and prospects for political and economic development. Within these regions he has focused on China, Vietnam, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Cuba, and Nicaragua. He also writes on Chinese relations with Latin America and on US foreign policy.

In this day and age of intense partisan rancor in Washington, one thing that brings Republicans and Democrats together is their distrust of China. And one Chinese company that both the left and the right seem to love to hate is Huawei Technologies, the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world. Just in October, the House Intelligence Committee released a report warning the U.S. government and private companies against doing business with Huawei. The Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Committee  pointed out that Huawei can insert malicious hardware or software implants into its equipment, and allow the Chinese government to wage cyberwarfare, conduct economic espionage, and disrupt U.S. telecom networks that affect everything from electric power grids to banking and finance systems to rail and shipping channels. Mr. William Plummer, Vice President of External Affairs at Huawei, disputes the accusations against Huawei and talks about the company's relationship with the Chinese government, the vulnerabilities of the global telecommunications supply chain, and the politics of the U.S.-China relationship.