Chas Freeman
Visiting Scholar in International and Public Affairs
Chas Freeman is the author of five books and numerous articles on statecraft and the editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica article on “diplomacy.” He is a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, ambassador to Saudi Arabia, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, chargé d’affaires a.i. at Bangkok and Beijing, acting US commissioner for refugee affairs, and director of program coordination and development at the U.S. Information Agency. He was the principal American interpreter during the late President Nixon’s 1972 opening of U.S. relations with China.
"Sino-American Interactions, Past and Future" in
INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION AND MEDIATION IN VIOLENT CONFLICTS: The Changing Context of Peacemaking
By Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, Pamela Aall, Routledge, 2020
"United States - China Military Relations: From Enmity to Entente and Maybe Back Again " in
ENGAGING CHINA: Fifty Years of Sino-American Relations
Ed. by Anne Thurston, Oxford, 2021
May 29, 2023: From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back
May 21, 2023: From Pawns to Global Powers: The Nations of the Middle East Strike Back
May 10, 2023: ‘We don’t do diplomacy anymore’: An interview with U.S. Ambassador Chas W. Freeman Jr.
May 3, 2023: The End of the American Century Begins in the Middle East
April 30, 2023: New World Order w/ Ambassador Chas Freeman, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen
April 28, 2023: ME deflecting from US hegemony, heading for stability: Ex-US diplomat
March 31, 2023: What Two Taiwan Trips Mean for Fate of Most Dangerous U.S.-China Issue
March 17, 2023: Chas Freeman: America Needs to Use Diplomacy
February 23, 2023: Freeman & Macgregor: Roundtable on First Anniversary War in Ukraine
February 20, 2023: Talk World Radio: Chas Freeman on Making Peace with China
Febraury 8, 2023: Rising Tensions With China and a U.S. China Policy of Self-Harm
January 31, 2023: We Must Change America to Avert War: Leading American China-Scholar Chas Freeman
March 2022: Ukraine, Taiwan, and the Uses of Spheres of Influence in Statecraft. Read full paper >
March 8, 2022: #UkraineCrisis: Building a Just & Peaceful World with Amb. Chas W. Freeman & Katrina vanden Heuvel
February 2022: No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World
February 28, 2022: Nixon in China and the Shanghai Communique at 50
September 22, 2021: China Forum: Amb Chas Freeman (Part II)
September 8, 2021: China Forum: Amb Chas Freeman on U.S.-China Normalization
January 11, 2021: The International Landscape Awaiting the Biden Administration
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December 17, 2020: War with China over Taiwan? Remarks to a Salon of the Committee for the Republic
November 12, 2020: Edgerton Series | Under Pressure: Taiwan, the United States, and China
February 5, 2019: Tales of American Diplomacy - Chas Freeman: Interpreting Nixon
February 7, 2017: Interesting Times: A Conversation With Ambassador Chas Freeman
February 18, 2016: Recovering Diplomatic Agility - Part 3
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February 11, 2016: The United States in the New World Disorder - Part 2
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February 4, 2016: The Crumbling of the Pax Americana - Part 1
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October 13, 2015: Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry
February 7, 2023: U.S. China Policy: A Case of Self-Harm - Remarks to the American Academy of Diplomacy
December 14, 2022: Can the United States Effectively Counter Chinese Influence in the GCC? - Remarks to a Panel of the Middle East Institute
December 7-8, 2022: The Sino-American Quasi-War and its Collateral Damage - Remarks to a Forum organized by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Institute of American Studies
December 6, 2022: Time to Try a Different Approach to Foreign Relations? - Remarks to a CODEPINK Congress Program on Diplomacy
November 25, 2022: China’s Relations with Neighbors and the Ebb of U.S. Power - Remarks to Shanghai Forum
November 16, 2022: Refashioning the East Asian Order - Remarks to the U.S. National Defense University’s College of National Security Affairs
November 9, 2022: The United States, China, and Great Power Competition in the Middle East - Remarks to the David L. Boren School of International Studies, University of Oklahoma
September 21, 2022: World Orders: The Global Kaleidoscope in Repeated Motion - Lecture to a class on Diplomacy and the Policy Process
August 5, 2022: Some Implications of the Sino-American Split - A chat with the Peer Global Fundraisers Group
July 29, 2022: U.S. Interests and Pretenses in a Changing Middle East - Remarks to a Panel of the Middle East Policy Council
May 5, 2022: Outcompeting China to “Win the Future” - Remarks at the Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC
April 16, 2022: Changes not seen in a Century - Remarks to the Harvard College China Forum
January 21, 2022: China in the Middle East Remarks to a Panel of the Middle East Policy Council
January 10, 2022: Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
October 20, 2021: Acceptance of the Committee for the Republic’s Defender of Liberty Award
September 10, 2021: The Sino-American Split: At Sea with a Broken Compass
September 2, 2021: Sino-American Relations in the Evolving Global Context
Originally scheduled for August 23 -24. Postponed twice due to outbreaks of COVID-19. Sino-American Relations: A Contest of Innovative Capabilities
June 9, 2021: Sino-American Relations: A Candid Conversation with Chinese Friends
May 19, 2021: The Fadeout of the Pax Americana in the Middle East - Remarks to the Institute of Peace and Diplomacy, Canada
April 15, 2021: Sino-American Antagonism: How Does This End? Remarks to the Confucius Institute, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
February 11, 2021: Playing at War Games with China - Remarks to the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs
December 27, 2020: China, US must rebuild relations brick by brick: Charles W. Freeman Jr.
December 25, 2020: Veteran diplomat: US confronts China to protect supremacy, not security
December 22, 2020: The growing peril of war with China over Taiwan
October 14, 2020: Notes for the Panel on Geopolitics: Post-COVID and Post-US World Disorder
September 25, 2020: The Struggle with China is not a Replay of the Cold War - Remarks to the Asia American Forum
June 15, 2020: The Global Geopolitical Outlook - Remarks to Participants in the Saudi Aramco Management Development Seminar
May 7, 2020: Remarks to the Harvard College China Forum 2020
April 14, 2020: The United States and a Resurgent Asia - Remarks prepared for delivery to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Not delivered due to the suspension of public gatherings during the Covid-19 Pandemic)
March 19, 2020: On Diplomatic Relationships and Strategies - Remarks as prepared for delivery at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs (Not delivered due to the suspension of public gatherings caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic)
February 20, 2020: America in Distress: The Challenges of Disadvantageous Change - Remarks to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
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October 23, 2019: Remarks of the opening keynote address at the Gulf International Forum
October 17, 2019: Nixon’s China Legacy and its Contemporary Reversal: Remarks to a Panel at the Woodrow Wilson Center
October 17, 2019: Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and Great Power Competition: Remarks to the Gulf International Forum
September 27, 2019: Ready, Fire, Aim: U.S. Interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria Contribution to a Panel Discussion at the DACOR Annual Conference
September 26, 2019: Deglobalization and its Discontents - Remarks to the 2019 Saudi Aramco Management Development Seminar
June 13, 2019: The Sino-American Split and its Consequences - The Foreign Policy Association’s Centennial Lecture Series
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May 3, 2019: On Hostile Coexistence with China - Remarks to the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies China Program
April 16, 2019: The American Warfare State and its Costs: Introduction of the Speakers to a Committee for the Republic Salon
April 5, 2019: The State of Sino-American Relations and their Global Context: Remarks to the Brown China Summit
February 12, 2019: After the Trade War, a Real War with China? Remarks to the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs
January 18, 2019: Are the United States and China Headed for War? Remarks to a January 2019 Conference at the Carter Center
January 17, 2019: Sino-American Interactions, Past and Future: A Paper Prepared for a January 2019 Conference at the Carter Center Atlanta, Georgia
December 18, 2018: The Ironies of a Successful U.S. China Policy: Remarks to the National Committee for U.S.-China Relations
December 11, 2018: China and America in the New World Disorder Remarks to a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Seminar on Forty Years of Sino-American Relations
November 29, 2018: China in the Post-American World: Remarks to Le Cercle
November 13 & 14, 2018: A New Era in US-China Relations - Remarks to the Watson Institute, Brown University, and the Fairbank Center, Harvard University
November 8, 2018: The North Korean Nuclear Crisis Remarks to a panel led by Lyle Goldstein at the Harvard Club of Rhode Island
November 2, 2018: The Middle East after Khashoggi: Remarks at the Center for the National Interest
October 6, 2018: The Mess in U.S.-China Relations: Remarks to the New England Chinese Language Teachers Association
May 15, 2018: In the Time of Trump: Public Turbulence and Private Capital: Remarks to the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association
May 10, 2018: A Middle East with No Master: Remarks to the Middle East Project
May 5, 2018: On the Souring of Sino-American: Relations Remarks to the Committee of 100
April 16, 2018: Diplomacy as Risk Management: Remarks to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs
April 5, 2018: Diplomacy as Tactics: Remarks to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs
May 1, 2018: Fifteen Years of Forever Wars: Remarks to a Meeting of the Center for the Study of Statesmanship
March 19, 2018: Diplomacy as Strategy: Remarks to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs
February 18, 2018: This Too Shall Pass - Remarks to the Camden Conference on The New World Disorder and America’s Future
February 8, 2018: The United States and China: Game of Superpowers
February, 2018: Diplomacy: A Rusting Tool of American Statecraft
December 11, 2017: The Middle East in the New World Disorder
November 15, 2017: The Allison Rap on Thucydides' Trap
November 14, 2017: The Troubled Sino-American Politico-Economic Relationship in Historical Perspective
October 28, 2017: Technology, Statecraft, and Unrestricted Warefare
May 1, 2017: Thinking about War with China - Remarks at a discussion of “Avoiding War with China”
April 26th, 2017: Greater Israel and the Prospects for Peace in the Middle East - Remarks to a panel of the Middle East Policy Council
April 6th, 2017: Reimagining the Middle East - Reimagining the International Environment: Part III
March 23rd, 2017: Reimagining China and Asia - Reimagining the International Environment: Part II
March 9th, 2017: Reimagining Great Power Relations - Reimagining the International Environment: Part 1
February 22nd, 2017: Taiwan: Into the Endgame? Remarks prepared for a Roundtable on China-Taiwan Relations in the Tsai Ing-wen Era
February 8th, 2017: The Geoeconomic Implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative - Remarks to a Conference of the University of San Francisco’s China Business Studies Initiative
February 1, 2017: Entropy in Geopolitics - Remarks prepared for a discussion at Energía México 2017
January 5, 2017: No More Presidential Wars - Remarks to the Committee for the Republic
December 7, 2016: Address to the McLean Foreign Policy Group on “Ebb in Deference to American Global Leadership”
November 14, 2016: Comments on Taiwan's Identity - Remarks to a Conference on "Transpacific Taiwan"
October 25, 2016: Visions of the World and the U.S. Role in It - Remarks to the Myra Kraft Open Classroom at Northeastern University
October 19, 2016: Discussion of the Changing Global and Regional Environment: Oil and Money Conference, London
October 13, 2016: The Middle East and the Next Administration - Remarks Prepared for a Middle East Policy Council Capitol Hill Conference
October 12, 2016: The Domestic Consequences of America’s Many Wars in the Middle East - Remarks to a Salon of the Committee for the Republic
June 9, 2016: U.S. Policy and the Geopolitical Dynamics of the Middle East - Remarks to the Center for the National Interest
September 15, 2016: Turkey in the New Geopolitical Context
May 18, 2016: Advancing American Security: the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy - sponsored by the Charles Koch Institute
May 12, 2016: America’s Continuing Misadventures in the Middle East - A Book Talk at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
May 4, 2016: One China, Two Freemans Remarks at the Center for China - US Cooperation, University of Denver
April 23, 2016: China’s Current Problems and Prospects - Remarks to a panel at Brown University’s “China Summit”
February 9, 2023 Sputnik International
Chas Freeman on the U.S. defense budget for Sputnik International, "We have reduced defense companies, contractors to the level where they are oligopolies that are only five or so, the big ones."
December 29, 2022 Responsible Statecraft
Ambassador Chas Freeman writes for Responsible Statecraft, "Without explicit support from the United States, Japan is reemerging as an Asian politico-military power."
December 28, 2022 Responsible Statecraft
Ambassador Chas Freeman writes for Responsible Statecraft, "Regional governments have taken note of Washington’s reluctance to challenge Russia in Ukraine directly."
December 27, 2022 Responsible Statecraft
Ambassador Chas Freeman writes for Responsible Statecraft, "Other countries in the region seek to ensure their independence by working with each other — as well as courting US support."
December 26, 2022 Responsible Statecraft
Ambassador Chas Freeman writes for Responsible Statecraft, "After four centuries, China has emerged as the economic nucleus of its region and a credible contestant for global preeminence."
December 8, 2022 Radio Open Source
Senior Fellow Ambassador Chas Freeman on the power dynamics of the US and China for Radio Open Source.
November 12, 2022 Responsible Statecraft
Senior Fellow Ambassador Chas Freeman explains for Responsible Statecraft, how world’s leaders, including Washington, have lost their grip on the Middle East.
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Watch on Watson's YouTube channel.
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. McKinney Conference Room, 111 Thayer Street
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Joukowsky Forum, 111 Thayer Street