Sara Newland

Yup--and (of course) announced right after many students have just left the US.

Though I've been surprised by Rubio on other things (Ukraine), this one isn't a surprise--he's a longtime China hawk & FL is much more extreme than the rest of the country on this stuff. PRC nationals can't buy real estate in much of FL, public universities can't recruit Chinese grad students, etc.

I'll be giving a talk on my book in Seattle and online (hybrid) on May 15 at 3:30pm (Pacific). Please join in person or online! jsis.washington.edu/taiwan/2025/...

Tonight at 6:30! Please join me and @yangyangcheng.bsky.social at Smith College for a discussion of US-China relations today, as part of the @ncuscr.bsky.social's China Town Hall program.

Ha! So good.

Our report offers recommendations for a way forward. At a time when the national US-China relationship is fraught, strategic city-level engagement--when cities are educated about possible risks and have resources to assist in addressing them--should not be abandoned entirely. (5/5)

However, US city leaders are far more attuned to these risks than they were a decade ago. Total disengagement also comes at a cost:

❌Economic & trade opportunities lost
❌Reduced academic & cultural exchange
❌Weakened climate collaboration
❌ Xenophobia toward AAPI communities (4/5)

There can be real risks to US cities from poorly managed relationships with Chinese party-state actors, who may try to use relationships to interfere in local government and harm local communities in service of the CCP’s economic, geopolitical, and repressive agendas. (3/5)

We find that city-level interaction with China has declined dramatically since 2019, as subnational interactions with China have come under intense scrutiny amid anti-China sentiment and fears of malign foreign influence. (2/5)

Truman Center Launches New Report: American Cities in a Changing US-China Relationship | Truman Center for National Policy Press Statements by the Staff of Truman Center for National Policy

For the Truman Center for National Policy, @jarosky.bsky.social and I spent the last year learning from officials, activists, academics, & the business community across four US cities about US-China relations at the city level. Read our white paper here: www.trumancenter.org/news-posts/t... (1/5)

One week to go before the application deadline of this Friday, February 28! Please circulate this call widely to relevant potential applicants, to help us benefit from as strong and diverse an applicant pool as possible.

U.S.-China Subnational Diplomacy | ChinaPower Project In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Kyle Jaros and Dr. Sara Newland join us to explore the evolution of U.S.-China subnational diplomacy. They begin by examining the history and current…

“The rush to completely decouple...from China is challenging for [U.S.] localities, because often there is no alternative to whatever they were depending on in their relationship with China,” explains @saranewland.bsky.social while speaking on U.S.-China subnational diplomacy. Listen: bit.ly/4gEXA4b

ChinaPower | CSIS Podcasts Hosted by Bonny Lin, the ChinaPower Podcast dissects critical issues underpinning China’s emergence as a global power.

@jarosky.bsky.social and I enjoyed speaking with Bonny Lin on the @csis.org ChinaPower podcast to discuss our research on city- and state-level US-China relations. Listen here: www.csis.org/podcasts/chi...

If you work for nonprofit focussed on China/Taiwan/Hong Kong in any way/shape/form and relying on USAID funding for your work, I'd love to hear from you. DMs open. Email pkine[at]politico.com

And the reverse is also true--big decline in US students studying Chinese.

Bridges or battlegrounds? American cities in the US-China relationship On December 12, Brookings will host a conversation on current and future city-level engagement with China.

Starting soon! Please join me and @jarosky.bsky.social, in conversation with Mary Gallagher and Patricia Kim, for a discussion (online & in person) of US-China subnational engagement. Thanks to @brookings.edu and the Truman Center for National Policy for organizing! www.brookings.edu/events/bridg...

As a result, I expect to see some resumption of educational exchanges and study abroad programs, but nowhere near a return to pre-COVID levels of exchange.

And, as @sophiedrich.bsky.social notes, the security concerns about travel to China haven't magically disappeared with this change in status--there are still very real risks that might make universities think twice about sending students there.

Governor Abbott Issues Executive Order Hardening State Government From The Chinese Communist Party

Some states (e.g. Texas and Florida) now have laws or executive orders banning travel to China by public employees or establishing partnerships with Chinese educational institutions. gov.texas.gov/news/post/go...

New intensive language study abroad program in Taiwan teaches Mandarin FIU has established a partnership to ensure that students get the language training needed to pursue diplomatic and other careers.

However, at this point educational exchanges with China have been severely disrupted for more than four years (since COVID). Universities have cancelled exchange programs with Chinese universities and created new ones with universities in Taiwan. news.fiu.edu/2024/fiu-lau...

Public universities have historically been a key site of subnational engagement w/China, and in @jarosky.bsky.social and my interviews with university administrators the level 3 warning has often come up as a key barrier to resuming US-China educational exchanges.

The level 3 warning made study abroad in China difficult or impossible for many US students. Universities' insurance wouldn't cover students in countries w/a level 3 warning, or university policies prohibited travel to countries with level 3 warnings (though in some cases this could be appealed).

China Travel Advisory

The State Department has downgraded its China travel advisory from Level 3 ("reconsider travel") to Level 2 ("exercise caution"), with potentially big implications for subnational US-China engagement. Thread:

Emmett Institute Fellowship in Environmental Law and Policy 2025-2027 (China Focus) University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!

Come work w/ us (esp. our Faculty Co-Director @greenlawchina.bsky.social)! We are hiring a China-focused Environmental Law & Policy Fellow. Ideal for those interested in US-China climate cooperation, Chinese green development in the Global South & geopolitics. Details: recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF10027

Health Insurance, Medicine, and Society in Taiwan: Chinese Authoritarianism, Taiwanese Ethnicities, and Global Actuarial Science This article explores the history of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang KMT) government’s expansion of health insurance in Taiwan from 1950 to the 2010s through the lens of ethnicity, politi...

Pleased to share my new article on the history of health insurance in Taiwan through the lens of ethnicity, politics, and global health. (Open Access) 1/

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Paradiplomacy in Hard Times: Cooperation and Confrontation in Subnational U.S.–China Relations Abstract. What becomes of subnational foreign engagement when international tensions rise? State-level U.S.–China relations offer insights into unresolved

They also raise very real concerns for Chinese-heritage communities, whose members worry about the presumption that they are "foreign adversaries."

You can read much more about state-level China policy in our recent Publius article (with more coming soon). academic.oup.com/publius/adva...

These kinds of actions can seem like easy political wins in an anti-China moment, but also have far-reaching costs for state economic development efforts, educational opportunities for domestic students, & talent recruitment (researchers who collect data in China will largely need to leave TX).

In general, this is one of the broadest anti-China executive orders in recent years (most have been more narrowly focused, e.g. TikTok bans).

@jarosky.bsky.social and I have been following China-related executive orders by governors closely as part our work on subnational US-China relations. University employees in other states (e.g. Florida) have been discouraged from traveling to China, but I haven't seen it banned in an EO before.