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CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Iran’s
Foreign Minister in 2019: ‘I Doubt That President Trump Wants Conflict’
The
U.S. killing of Major General Qassem
Suleimani, arguably Iran’s second most powerful figure,
has marked a major escalation in the long-simmering conflict between
the two countries and sparked fear of turmoil throughout the
region.
On Monday, Iran’s U.S.-educated foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif,
was
denied a visa by the United States to attend a United Nations
Security Council meeting this week. Last April, he appeared at Asia
Society New York for a wide-ranging conversation with Asia Society
President and CEO Josette
Sheeran. Less than a year after President Donald Trump
withdrew the U.S. from the Iran Nuclear Deal, Zarif told Sheeran that he did
not think the president wanted conflict — but that Trump was
mistaken if he thought his “maximum pressure” approach to Iran would
work.
“We have 7,000 years of history,” Zarif said. “We’ve had battles. We’ve
had losses. We’ve had victories. Usually, we haven’t come to our knees.
And this won’t be an aberration of that.”
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CHINAFILE
What's Next
for Taiwan?
The
first significant global election in 2020 will occur on January 11 in
Taiwan, where President
Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party is
seeking re-election. Her opponent, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu,
is representing the Kuomintang, a party that traditionally favors
closer relations to the People’s Republic of China.
In the latest ChinaFile
Conversation, experts on Taiwanese politics discuss the key issues
informing the election: To what extent do voters care about relations
with China as opposed to domestic issues? How much do the recent
protests in Hong Kong matter? And will Beijing attempt to meddle in the
vote?
Read the
whole conversation here.
On January 16,
Asia Society New York will present
a briefing on Taiwan’s election with former U.S. State
Department official Susan Thornton, author and Taiwan expert Vincent Wei-cheng Wang, and Asia Society Executive
Vice President Tom
Nagorski.
The live
webcast will begin at 8:30 a.m. New York time.
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ARTS
Mark Your
Calendars: Tishani Doshi Discusses Her New Novel With Salman Rushdie
The
award-winning novelist and poet Tishani
Doshi’s new novel, Small
Days and Nights, is an exquisitely-written story
about the search for belonging and the consequences of deception. On
January 21, Doshi will
discuss her novel at Asia Society New York with celebrated
novelist Salman
Rushdie. A live
webcast of the program will begin at 6:30 p.m. New York
time.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
- January
9: Author Niall
Ferguson will apply a historical perspective to
the world’s most pressing issues at Asia Society Hong Kong’s 12th
Annual Burton Levin Memorial Lecture Series.
- January
10: Author and humorist David
Sedaris brings his
celebrated wit to Asia Society Hong Kong for an
hourlong reading, Q&A, and book signing as part of the Hong
Kong International Literary Festival.
- January
16: Physician and author Azra
Raza’s new book, The First Cell, considers why
patients today are as likely to die from cancer as they were 50
years ago — despite $150 billion spent on treatment each year.
Raza will
discuss her work in a public program at Asia Society
Texas.
- January
22: Farooq
Kathwari, the Kashmiri-born chairman, president,
and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, will
discuss his remarkable life story with Josette
Sheeran at Asia Society New York.
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and institutions of Asia and the United States.
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