USIP held the second in a new series of meetings with Asia-Pacific naval attaches in Washington on January 25, providing a briefing on U.S. policy toward China. The broader initiative—Naval Attache Roundtable Meetings—aims to deepen exchanges on a region of vital strategic and economic importance toward which the U.S. government is “rebalancing” its foreign policy.

Naval Attaches Briefed on U.S. China Policy at USIP

The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) held the second in a new series of meetings with Asia-Pacific naval attaches in Washington on January 25, providing a briefing on U.S. policy toward China. The broader initiative—Naval Attache Roundtable Meetings—aims to deepen exchanges on a region of vital strategic and economic importance toward which the U.S. government is “rebalancing” its foreign policy. The attaches were briefed by Aubrey Carlson, director of the State Department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

The series is being organized by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Aaron R. Austin, who is currently an interagency professional in residence at USIP focused on East Asian security issues. The briefings are intended to help Asia-Pacific naval attaches better understand U.S. policy-making and analytical perspectives, as well as encourage participants from the region to discuss their own countries’ approaches to security matters. The January 25 session included a presentation about the training opportunities offered by USIP’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding by its dean of students, Lauren Van Metre.


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