PODCAST | ep14 | with Arthur Kleinman, Hong-Tu Chen, Ann Forsyth, and Fawwaz Habbal
 

People aged sixty-five and older make up the fastest growing population around the world, posing unique challenges to societies. A Harvard initiative called Social Technology for Global Aging Research is founded on the belief that there’s a great potential for technologies and interventions to benefit the elderly, but only if they are developed with a deep understanding of day-to-day life. In the scope of this collaboration, technology for the elderly covers a wide range of needs—from engineering hardware for mobility to designing living environments and even tackling the logistics of meeting friends for tea. It’s an expansive collaboration between Harvard scholars and their Chinese counterparts. We speak with four collaborators who share fascinating examples of their work.

Listen to episode #14 (44:28) by clicking the play button below:

If China attempts reunification with Taiwan, how will the US meet its obligations to defend it? Two visiting fellows and officers of the US Air Force insist that the US must improve its preparedness for a new type of conflict.

by Ken Fann and Charles Bursi... Read more about Protecting the Porcupine: Why Taiwan Matters

The Russian oil boycott has not only shaken the global economy, but also exposes how overdue the world is for a transition to cleaner energy. Three scholars report on impacts of the boycott and emphasize the need for multilateral solutions that don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

By Michelle Nicholasen

Second in a series of interviews on the impact of the Russian oil boycott on countries around the world.... Read more about The Geopolitics of Energy: China’s Coal Regime

Respecting the rights and distinct cultures of ethnic minorities was one of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding principles. But a recent Party document signals that assimilation is the new rule.

By Aaron Glasserman... Read more about Is Assimilation the New Norm for China’s Ethnic Policy?

US Air Force Colonel and Weatherhead Center Fellow Jacob Thornburg describes the many ways in which China and the US are interconnected and offers measures to shore up the relationship.

By Jacob Thornburg... Read more about To Avoid a Sino-American War, Strengthen Military and Diplomatic Ties

Once part and parcel of Asia’s political economy during the age of imperialism, the opium trade wreaked social havoc in China and provoked an international movement toward drug control that endures to the present day. 

By Steffen Rimner

For more than one hundred years, China has been waging a War on Drugs. For most of that century, its commitment to fight drug distribution and consumption was ironclad. 

The same is true today; China’s most recent public diplomacy has left little doubt that its anti-drug zeal has not abated. In spring 2009, the National Narcotics Commission of China joined hands with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to host seventeen member states of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).¹ Combining public fanfare with diplomatic finesse, the centennial highlighted the International Opium Commission (wanguo jinyan hui) of 1909 in Shanghai as the first-ever anti-drug summit in human history. The one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of global drug control, supported equally by Beijing and the international community, offered ready material for an intrinsically global politics of history, almost like a bait to fish.²
    
By 2019, only the centennial itself has been relegated to history. The screens announcing an “existing spirit of shared responsibilities and mutual trust”³ have disappeared. So has the carefully choreographed exhibit featuring global drug control as China’s brainchild. Likewise, the Shanghai Declaration, proclaiming Chinese and international cooperation in global drug control, is now gathering dust, devolved into a historical document.⁴ Most dramatically, even the luster of high office in Chinese drug control did not shield officials from sudden state scrutiny. At the commemoration of 2009, Meng Hongwei gave one of the major speeches as acting vice minister of public security. In 2018, he resigned as chief of Interpol after being arrested by his own government on charges of corruption.... Read more about History's Hatred: China’s War on Drugs and the Power of Past Violence