U.S. and China: Overcoming Distrust

Top Asian affairs expert Dennis Wilder believes the U.S.-China relationship is the most important relationship of the 21st Century. It’s the “one we have to get right,” he tells GLG. Achieving harmony between the two nations will require finding common ground on a number of key issues. For one, there’s Chinese President Xi’s mounting distrust of U.S. policies in the region—namely around Taiwan. There are also questions around trade, China’s growing relationship with Russia, and the North Korean nuclear problem. Dennis Wilder sits down with GLG to discuss these major geopolitical challenges and why the U.S.-China relationship is so important.

Dennis Wilder is a senior fellow with the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, where he is also an assistant professor in Asian studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service. Previously, Wilder spent three decades as a leading China expert within the U.S. intelligence and diplomatic communities. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the CIA’s Deputy Assistant Director for East Asia and the Pacific. Between 2009 and 2015, Wilder was senior editor of the President’s Daily Brief. Prior to this, Wilder served as the National Security Council’s (NSC) Director for China, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs on the NSC, as well as a China military analyst for the CIA. Wilder has a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College.