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SPEAKERS

Olga Alexeeva

Associate Professor of Chinese History, Université du Québec à Montréal

Dr. Olga V. Alexeeva has joined the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) as Professor of Chinese History in May 2012, after studying and teaching in Paris, Beijing, Tianjin, Bordeaux, Québec and Taipei. Her current research project, supported by the SSHRC, focuses on the history of China’s rugged path towards modernization. She was a visiting scholar in Paris University, France, in 2017 and 2019, and is currently an associate member of the School of International Affairs at Laval University. She has written on a broad range of contemporary geopolitical issues, including China’s Arctic aspirations, shipping potential of the “Polar Silk Road” and economic prospects of the Sino-Russian cooperation within BRI. 

Yun Sun

Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program, Stimson Center

Yun Sun's expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes.

From 2011 to early 2014, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, jointly appointed by the Foreign Policy Program and the Global Development Program, where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to 2011, Yun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group based in Beijing, specializing on China’s foreign policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Prior to ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, DC for five years. Yun earned her master’s degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as well as an MA in Asia Pacific studies and a BA in international relations from Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.

Gordon Houlden

Director Emeritus, China Institute, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Gordon Houlden is the Director Emeritus of the China Institute, Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Business at the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ.

Professor Houlden joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1976, serving in Ottawa and abroad. Twenty-two of his years in the Canadian Foreign Service were spent working on Chinese economic, trade and political affairs for the Government of Canada including five postings in China. His last assignment before joining UºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ in 2008 was as Director General of the East Asian Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

MODERATOR

Jia Wang

Interim Director, China Institute, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Jia Wang is currently the Interim Director of the China Institute at the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, where she manages research, programs, and government and media relations since 2011. Jia has over 15 years of direct management experience focusing on the economic and political dimensions of contemporary China and Canada-China relations in various capacities. At the China Institute, in addition to overseeing the operations, she leads policy research initiatives examining Canada's diplomatic, trade, investment and energy linkages with China. Jia also provides strategic and policy advice on China to University senior leaders as well as executives at public and private sector organizations. She is a frequent media commentator, speaker and moderator at community, national and international events.