Oct. 5: Can China’s investments in U.S. be a win-win?

By Adriana Aumen, College of Arts & Sciences

Styles-webPULLMAN, Wash. – The implications of Chinese economic investments in the U.S. and parts of Africa will be discussed by international business experts and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, in CUE 203 at Washington State University.

The ninth annual CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections will be broadcast live simultaneously at more than 70 locations nationwide. It will be followed at 5 p.m. at WSU by an in-person presentation by international business lawyer Auria O. Styles who will examine China’s increased global presence, particularly in Africa.

The free, public events are hosted by the WSU Asia Program (http://libarts.wsu.edu/asia/index.asp). Audience questions and participation are welcome; seating is limited. Learn more at http://libarts.wsu.edu/asia/chinatownhall.asp.

China-logo-web“Many of us view the relationship between the U.S. and China like a football game, assuming that one side’s gain means a loss for the other side,” said Lydia Gerber, director of the Asia Program and associate clinical professor of history at WSU. “The panel in this year’s CHINA Town Hall program will present us with data that support a different perspective, including the option of a win-win relationship related to China’s investment in the United States economy.”

Rubin and others will examine the growing role of Chinese investments in the U.S. and what they mean for American workers, communities and overall economy. Other panelists are Sheldon Day, mayor of Thomasville, Ala. – location of a major Chinese-owned factory – and Daniel Rosen, founding partner of the Rhodium Group investment research and policy company. The moderator is Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (https://www.ncuscr.org/cth), organizer of CHINA Town Hall events.

“In her presentation, ‘Framing the Future: The U.S., China and the African Continent,’ Auria Styles will help us understand the magnitude and nature of China’s engagement and its implications within a global context,” Gerber said. “This is critical information for all who take an active interest in international relations.”

Styles is an experienced international business lawyer concentrating on cross-border transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Greater China. She is senior counsel for mergers & acquisitions and strategic transactions at Intel and adjunct professor at the University of California Hastings School of Law. She has advised private equity and venture capital funds on structuring more than $750 million in investments in the Internet, media, film, healthcare, real estate and education sectors and has run her own law firm focused on representing early-stage technology companies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This will be the sixth year the Asia Program has hosted CHINA Town Hall events to help WSU students and the community better understand complex U.S.-China relations.

 

Contacts:
Lydia Gerber, WSU Asia Program, 509-335-7425, lgerber@wsu.edu
Adrian Aumen, WSU College of Arts and Sciences communications, 509-335-5671, adriana@wsu.edu
Joseph Weed, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations communications, 646-604-8001, jweed@ncuscr.org