Countries across the globe are increasingly focused on the Arctic due to its expanding shipping routes, vast natural resources, and cutting-edge scientific research opportunities. China views the Arctic as a critical new frontier for its economic and geostrategic opportunities. Since China isn't geographically located in the Arctic, it must work with other nations, like Russia, to achieve its aims in the region. However, Chinese engagement in the Arctic has been met with skepticism, especially from the United States and European nations weary of China's relationship with Russia and the impact of China's economic activity on their own industries.

Elizabeth Wishnick joined us on June 6, 2026 to discuss China's economic and security interests in the Arctic and China's reception in the region.

Click here to read the speaker's bio and watch the YouTube video.

As AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated, the United States and China are vying to win this technology competition. Both countries have different approaches and strengths in their development, deployment, and regulation of AI – the United States is recognized as leading in advanced AI development and China in industrial AI integration. Although perceptions of AI differ between people, companies, and the government in the United States and China, a shared anxiety exists among both populations over the effects this technology will have on their lives.

Yi-Ling Liu joined us on June 10, 2026 to share similarities and differences between the ways people in the United States and China view AI and who the narrative of a U.S.-China AI race neglects.

Further reading: Yi-Ling Liu's recent book The Wall Dancers: Searching For Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet traces the evolution of the Chinese internet, following entrepreneurs, activists, and artists as they navigate surveillance and censorship within the Great Firewall. Liu draws on years of firsthand reporting and interviews in China to examine online subcultures, shifting state policies, and tech innovations over the last three decades

CHINA Town Hall (CTH), a program that provides a snapshot of the current U.S.-China relationship and examines how that relationship reverberates at the local level – in our towns, states, and nation – connects people around the country with U.S. policymakers and thought leaders on China.

The 2026 CHINA Town Hall program took place on Tuesday, April 7, at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, with two veteran senior diplomats discussing the current state and future trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship: Stephen Biegun, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, and Sarah Beran, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and former senior director for China and Taiwan affairs at the White House National Security Council.

Since CTH launched in 2007, the National Committee has proudly partnered with a range of institutions and civic groups, colleges and universities, trade and business associations, world affairs councils and think tanks to convene town halls and bring this important national conversation to local communities around America (and a few overseas).