On Tuesday 19 April, our usual lunch at the Kempinski.

I received from President Daniel my Paul Harris pin (PHF+6), always nice it gets to Beijing safely… I have been donating to the Rotary Foundation in the past few years continuously, and I recently became a Paul Harris Society Member.

Our speaker was Ms. Angela Poh; topic: “U.S. — China Strategic Rivalry in Southeast Asia”.

(thanks to Celine for her pics!)

Angela is a PhD candidate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Formerly working at Singaporean DoD, she is currently  on a one-year visiting fellowship at Peking University. Her research is on a Chinese perspective on and employment of economic retaliation.
She gave an overview of the strategic competition between the U.S. and China in Southeast Asia. She suggested that there were increasing security and economic tensions between China and the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region. The chances of miscommunication and miscalculation were high, and countries in the region would need to play constructive roles by incorporating both the U.S. and China into new and existing economic and security institutions in order to delicately manage this strategic rivalry.

Joint Anniversary Celebration with RCBM:
A joint Anniversary Celebration of RC Beijing and RC Beijing Mandarin will be held on Sunday, May 22 at JE Mansion, starting at 6pm. Past RI President Gary Huang will attend the event together with district officers. The ticket is RMB 800 per person (RMB 500 for food and RMB 300 for charity).