Event Details

WHAT: A discussion between Prof. Odd Arne Westad and Ambassador Nicholas Burns about Westad's new book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History. The event is hybrid, with Arne Westad participating in-person and Nicholas Burns online. The event is jointly organised by RASBJ and Yale Center Beijing (YCB); it will take place at YCB.

Members and friends of RASBJ are invited to attend this event in person.

For RASBJ members and Yale affiliates who wish to attend online, an email for zoom attendance, at a nominal fee, will follow.

If you are not a member of RASBJ, or are a member of a partner RAS branch, you are welcome to become an RASBJ member in order to attend the talk.

This notice covers registration with RASBJ, by its members and friends, for in-person participation. Members were emailed an invitation Jan. 29.

Members of the Yale community should register via the Yale Center Beijing's webpage : https://centerbeijing.yale.edu/node/947​


WHEN: 7.00-8.15 PM, Tuesday 10th February, Doors open at 6.30PM


WHERE: Yale Center Beijing, 36th Floor, Tower B, IFC Building, 8 Jianguomenwai Avenue.

ๅปบๅ›ฝ้—จๅค–ๅคง่ก—8ๅท ๅŒ—ไบฌๅ›ฝ้™…่ดขๆบไธญๅฟƒ Bๅบง 36ๅฑ‚


ABOUT THE EVENT: The vast majority of people alive today have come of age in a world of remarkable stability, presided over by either one or two superpowers. That is not to say the world has been peaceful; but it has, to a great extent, been predictable. As an increasing number of great powers jostle for regional supremacy, as well as competitive advantage in nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, space exploration, and trade, our world has become more fragile, unpredictable โ€“ and combustible. The outbreak of global war among today's great powers seems increasingly likely. Such a war, as Odd Arne Westad powerfully argues in this urgent book, would be of a magnitude and level of devastation never before seen.


To understand the threats that face us in this complex new terrain, we must look to the lessons of the past, and especially the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries โ€“ a time when Great Powers clashed and sought regional dominance, nationalism and populism were on the rise, and many felt that globalisation had failed them; a time when tariffs increased, immigration and terrorism were among the biggest issues of the day, and a growing number of people blamed the citizens of other countries for their problems. A time, in other words, that carries eerie parallels with our own.

The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History will be published on March 3, and may be ordered in advance.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Odd Arne Westad is a Norwegian scholar of modern international and global history, with a specialisation in the history of Eastern Asia since the 18th century. Westad won the Bancroft Prize for his The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. His Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750", was released in the US and UK in 2012 and made two Top 100 lists for that year. After teaching at the London School of Economics, where he was School Professor of International History, and at Harvard University, where he was the S.T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations, Westad joined the faculty at Yale.


Today, as Elihu Professor of History at Yale, Westad has several areas of research. He is interested in the histories of modern empires and the global effects of imperialism. He is also preoccupied with the transformation of contemporary China from the 1980s up to today. Some of his work is concerned with historical parallels to the present. His most recent book (with Chen Jian) is The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform (2024). His new book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History, will be published in March 2026.


ABOUT THE MODERATOR: Nicholas Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is the Founder and Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

Burns worked in the United States government for over three decades, serving six presidents and nine secretaries of state. During his tenure as the U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2021 to 2025, Burns helped to stabilise US-China relations amid tensions arising from military, technology and economic competition and human rights issues.


HOW MUCH: RMB 200 for members of RASBJ, RMB 300 for non-members. Seating is limited.


HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: To register for in-person attendance with RASBJ, please click "Register" or "I will Attend" and follow the instructions. Ticket purchase are for strictly one ticket each,. In case in-person seats become fully booked RASBJ members also will receive an invitation to attend via zoom, for a nominal fee.To become an RASBJ member, please sign up at: rasbj.glueup.cn/org/rasbeijing/memberships/​

You may find payment via Alipay easier than via WeChat; payments can also be made with international credit cards. After successful registration and payment, you will receive a confirmation email. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder. If payment is not received by noon on Friday February 6, the related registration application will be suspended. Registrations will close no later than Friday February 6 at 6.00PM

NOTE: Members of the Yale community, please register with the Yale Center Beijing via webpage: https://centerbeijing.yale.edu/node/947​


IF YOU WISH TO ASK A QUESTION OF THE SPEAKER OR MODERATOR: If you know you want to ask a question, please type it into the appropriate box in the event registration form when you register for the event; it will be given to the moderator in advance. Opportunities to ask real-time questions will be very limited, due to time constraints and attendee numbers.


REFUND POLICY: If the event is cancelled by the organisers, registrants will be refunded in full. Unless organisers cancel the event or explicitly state otherwise, tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.

Speakers

  • Odd Arne Westad (Speaker)

    Odd Arne Westad

    Speaker

    Arne Westad is a scholar of modern international and global history, with a specialization in the history of eastern Asia since the 18th century. He has published 18 books, most of which deal with 20th-century Asian and global history.

    In the first part of his career, Westad was mainly preoccupied with the history of the Cold War, China-Russia relations, and the history of the Chinese civil war and the Chinese Communist Party. He published two monographs: “Cold War and Revolution,” which deals with U.S. and Soviet intervention in the Chinese Civil War in 1944-1946, and “Decisive Encounters”, which is a general history of the Chinese civil war and the Communist victory in the period from 1946-1950. He also edited several books on Sino-Soviet and Cold War history topics.
    Since the mid-2000s, Westad has been concerned with more general aspects of post-colonial and global history, as well as the modern history of China. The three key works from this period are “The Global Cold War,” which argues for ways of understanding the Soviet-American conflict in light of late- and post-colonial change in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean; “Restless Empire,” which discusses broad trends in China’s international history since 1750; and “The Cold War: A World History,” which summarizes the origins, conduct, and results of the conflict on a global scale.
    Today, Westad has several areas of research. He is interested in the histories of modern empires and the global effects of imperialism. He is also preoccupied with the transformation of contemporary China from the 1980s up to today. Some of his work is concerned with historical parallels to the present. His most recent book (with Chen Jian) is “The Great Transformation: China’s Road from Revolution to Reform” (2024). His new book, “The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History,” will be published in early 2026.

    view more
  • Nicholas Burns (Moderator)

    Nicholas Burns

    Moderator

    Nicholas Burns is the Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the Founder and Faculty Chair of the Future of Diplomacy Project. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

    Burns served as the U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 2021-2025, leading public servants from forty-eight U.S. government agencies at the U.S. mission to China in overseeing one of America's most important and challenging bilateral relationships. During his tenure, he helped to stabilise US-China relations amid tensions fueled by military, technology and economic competition and human rights issues.

    Burns worked in the United States government for over three decades, serving six presidents and nine secretaries of state. As a career Foreign Service Officer, he was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008; the State Department’s third-ranking official when he led negotiations on the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement; a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel; and was the lead U.S. negotiator on Iran’s nuclear program. He was U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005) when the Alliance invoked Article 5 of the NATO Treaty on 9/11 in defense of the United States and embarked on military missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Burns was the Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and State Department Spokesman (1995-1997). He worked for five years (1990–1995) on the National Security Council at the White House at the end of the Cold War where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. Burns also served in the American Consulate General in Jerusalem (1985-1987) where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and before that, at the American embassies in Egypt (1983-1985) and Mauritania (1980 as an intern). He was a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board (2014-2017).

    Professor Burns is Vice Chairman of the Cohen Group and Co-Chair of the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the board of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, is a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and is a life-long member of Red Sox Nation.

    Professor Burns has received fifteen honorary degrees. Among his awards are: the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the Dayton Peace Prize (2025), the Foreign Service Cup from the Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired organization (2025), the Vandenberg Prize from the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan (2025), the Committee of 100 Leadership in Diplomacy Award (2024), the Aspen Strategy Group’s Leadership Award (2021), the Ignatian Award from Boston College (2017), the New Englander of the Year from the New England Council (2016), the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Johns Hopkins University, the Boston College Alumni Achievement Award, and the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University.

    view more

Venue

Yale Center Beijing

Yale Center Beijing, 36th Floor, Tower B, IFC Building, 8 Jianguomenwai Avenue
้—จๅค–ๅคง่ก—8ๅท ๅŒ—ไบฌๅ›ฝ้™…่ดขๆบไธญๅฟƒ Bๅบง 36ๅฑ‚
Beijing

If you have any questions please contact RASBJ Communications

Contact Organizer

Show on map