Podcast appearances and mentions of Michael D Swaine

Quincy Institute director of East Asia, Michael D. Swaine explains how to manage the rise in China's power and influence through a restrained grand strategy, rather than through confrontation and primacy. He discusses Chinese diplomacy on the global stage, the problem with Washington's current strategy to contain and confront Beijing, how to alleviate the security dilemma, managing US alliances and altering US force posture in East Asia, and handling the problem of Taiwan, among other topics. Show NotesMichael D. Swaine bioMichael D. Swaine and Andrew Bacevich, “A Restraint Approach to U.S.-China Relations: Reversing the Slide Toward Crisis and Conflict,” Quincy Institute paper no. 11, April 18, 2023.Michael D. Swaine, “The Worrisome Erosion of the One China Policy,” The National Interest, February 27, 2023.Michael D. Swaine, “What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Taiwan and Deterrence,” The Diplomat, January 23, 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael D. Swaine joins the show to discuss Washington and Japan alike are putting more skin in the game for Taiwan as tensions with Beijing mount.

Official and unofficial pronouncements from many sectors of the American foreign policy and political establishment routinely portray China as a major military threat to the United States --even claiming that this threat is existential.  This is part of a pattern that my guest today calls "threat inflation" which he argues leads to policy decisions that paradoxically leaves the US less secure.  Michael D Swaine, is director of the east asia program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is the author of a new report titled "Threat Inflation and the Chinese Military" which shows how US officials may be exaggerating the military threat from China and what he argues are problematic policies that stem from inflated threat perceptions.  

Find the link to Michael Swaine's report here: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/threat-inflation-chinese-military/ According to a recent report by Michael D. Swaine, framing the military challenge Beijing poses in alarmist, worst-case ways weakens the U.S. ability to determine the limits of Chinese threats. It also undermines voices within China that favor moderation, raises the danger of Sino-American crises and military conflict, and diverts U.S. resources away from desperately needed nonmilitary uses at home and abroad. The United States cannot build its way out of the deepening military competition with China, nor develop a successful long-term China strategy based on inflated threats. It must accept the logic of balance over dominance in many areas, fashion credible strategies designed both to deter and reassure Beijing in both the regional and global arenas, and strengthen its capacities at home. Michael Swaine discusses more effective approaches than threat inflation to facing China's increasingly powerful military in an interview conducted on July 8, 2022. About the speaker: https://ncuscr.org/events/threat-inflation-chinese-military

How much can the US influence Chinese policy? ... Who is to blame for current US-China tensions? ... Orville: There is a real ideological clash between the US and China ... Michael: Washington can't resolve the Hong Kong crisis ... Balancing cooperation and competition ... What threat does China pose to the US? ... Demilitarizing the South China Sea ... To what extent should the US "decouple" its economy from China's? ... Improving crisis management ...

By Michael D. Swaine This episode is also available as a blog post: https://transnational.live/2021/06/14/the-strategic-competition-act-is-a-dangerous-declaration-of-cold-war-on-china/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/transnational-foundation/message

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with the three authors of a new policy paper from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a relatively new D.C.-based think tank that advocates restraint in U.S. foreign policy. Michael D. Swaine, Jessica J. Lee, and Rachel Esplin Odell authored the report Toward an Inclusive & Balanced Regional Order: A New U.S. Strategy in East Asia, which was published by the Quincy Institute on January 11. In this longer-than-usual episode, they detail their recommendations for how they believe the Biden-Harris administration should approach the region, especially China.12:17: Sinophobia and Cold War mentalities23:33: The most pressing issues in East Asia42:59: Limited disentanglement in U.S.-China technology52:07: The role of U.S. forces in Japan and South Korea1:05:30: Taiwan’s “porcupine strategy” Recommendations:Rachel: Women in Color, an album by Raye Zaragoza, and The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin. Jessica: Lengthy puzzles as a way to provide some respite from laptops and cell phones.Michael: Continuing the trend of non-screen-related activities, Michael recommends taking up oil painting. Kaiser: Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, by Barton Gellman.

In this episode of our special Election 2020 series of The President’s Inbox, Mira Rapp-Hooper and Michael D. Swaine join host James M. Lindsay to discuss U.S. policy toward China.

China’s emergence as a major power in the increasingly vital Asia-Pacific region presents a major, long-term strategic challenge to the United States and its allies. Beijing’s growing military, economic, and political influence across the region, along with its avowed preference for a multi-polar security environment free from conventional alliances, call into question the future of the U.S.-led, post-WWII regional order centered on American maritime predominance and allied support. How is Beijing challenging this order, and to what extent? How should Washington and its allies respond? Michael D. Swaine and Ashley J. Tellis have recently presented very different assessments—Swaine argues for a transition to a stable balance of power, while Tellis calls for an enhanced effort to sustain U.S. predominance. Join them for for a lively discussion of this vital issue. The University of Pennsylvania’s Avery Goldstein will moderate.