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DAY 1

DAY 2

Panel #1: Understanding China's Grand Strategy

• What are China's long-term objectives as a global power?

• How do the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia fit into Chinese strategic goals?

• How does China view its competition with the United States and Russia for influence? How is the war in Ukraine affecting China's relationship with Russia and calculations for the region?

• Does China want to play the role of regional security guarantor? To what extent are Middle East countries increasing reliance on China's Foreign Military Sales (FMS)?  

• How does China balance its relations with regional states, especially on both sides of the Arabian Gulf?

Panelists:
• Moderator:  Todd Veazie, Director of Strategic Multilayer Assessment, The Joint Staff, Pentagon
• Major General Kevin Leahy, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command Central
• Dr. Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
• Dan Blumenthal, Director of Asia Studies, American Enterprise Institute
• Dr. June Teufel Dreyer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami

Panel #2: Implications of China's Belt and Road Geoeconomics for U.S. National Security

China's Belt and Road Initiative has been Beijing's most powerful tool of influence in recent history. This panel will examine how China employs its economic investment leverage to cultivate influence and potentially coerce and control other states. This session will explore the trajectory of the BRI and the potential for China to use these infrastructure projects to support future military aims. The panel will also examine the implications of China's dependence on and increased access to petroleum and critical minerals in the region. 

Panel Discussion Questions:
• What is the role of BRI in China's grand strategy? 

• Assessing the geoeconomic and geopolitical implications of the BRI. 

• What should the U.S. do to counter the influence that China has developed in the Central Region through its BRI?

• How does China's preferential access to critical minerals in the region, primarily through its BRI, threaten U.S. interests? 

Panelists:
• Moderator: Quinton DuBose, Strategic Competition Program, J2, U.S. Central Command
•  Major General Sean Salene, Director, Strategy, Plans and Policy, U.S. Central Command
• Dr. Dawn Murphy, Professor of International Security Studies, U.S. Air War College
• Grant Rumley, Goldberger Fellow with The Washington Institute's Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East
• Dr. Lawrence Reardon, Professor of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire

DAY 3

Break

Panel #3: China's Shaping of International Norms and Regional Security Environment

China seeks to reshape the regional security environment and revise the international rules-based order to its advantage. This panel looks at the ideological underpinnings and long-term objectives of China’s military modernization. The panel will examine the central role information operations and media narratives play in China's diplomatic and security strategies. It will also explore how China uses lawfare and manipulation of multinational bodies to undermine international norms.  

• How could Chinese military modernization change the character of future competition of conflict in Asia?

• How can states in the Central Region recognize and counter Chinese disinformation and political influence campaigns?

• What are the key opportunities and challenges to establish more cooperation among partners in the Central Region to maintain international norms?

• How can the United States work with its partners in the Central Region to ensure freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean Basin, establish rules of engagement with growing PLA forces in the region and counter Chinese disinformation and political influence campaigns?

Panelists:
Moderator: Matthew McInnis, Senior Fellow Institute for the Study of War
• Daniel Tobin, Deputy Director of China Studies, National Intelligence University
• Emily de la Bruyere, Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracy
• Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
• Peter Mattis, Special Competitive Studies Project, U.S. Naval Institute

Breakout Session #3
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC / not live streamed)
TikTok is now #1 on the U.S. Most Wanted List. Why the push is on to ban China’s most dangerous startup from the United States. 
(OVAL THEATER - ROOM 2500)

Session Lead: Tom Waters, Assistant Director of Startups for the University of South Florida.  He was previously an undercover officer on the CIA’s Economic and Trade Security team; his memoir is #2 on the Agency’s list of recommended reading for new employees.