China’s commercial maritime dominance is unprecedented in modern history. Its shipbuilding industry is more than 200 times larger than that of the United States. Last year, it won three-quarters of the world’s shipbuilding orders and delivered three ships to the Chinese navy for each ship American shipbuilders completed for the US Navy. China’s commercial fleet is about 10 times larger than that of the US, and China has ownership interests in more than 100 ports outside of China, including at every maritime chokepoint. This maritime dominance gives China extraordinary power to manipulate vital supply chains.Jennifer Carpenter, president of the American Waterways Operators and the American Maritime Partnership, will join Senior Fellow Michael Roberts to discuss how America’s maritime industry can help counter China’s shipping and shipbuilding dominance.
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Cuba’s Kleptocracy: How It Works and Why It Matters for US Policy
Despite economic reforms and anti-corruption initiatives pursued by Fidel Castro’s successors, the kleptocracy established in the country’s 1959 communist revolution persists. Front companies controlled by the military and security services continue to dominate the Cuban economy. Although the regime blames US sanctions for the island’s ongoing economic and humanitarian crisis, recent reporting suggests that these regime-connected entities have illicitly hoarded billions of dollars.While the secretive nature of Cuba’s regime means that the inner workings of its kleptocracy are not widely understood, the costs of corruption are fully apparent to Cuba’s population. Nationwide protests in recent years suggest that the regime’s kleptocracy, once a tool for entrenching its power, now undermines its legitimacy and has become a major vulnerability.As the Trump administration indicates a “tough” new approach toward Havana, join Hudson for an expert discussion on how kleptocracy operates in Cuba and its implications for American policy.
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Rebuilding America’s Maritime Industrial Base with Senators Mark Kelly and Todd Young
China’s control of commercial shipping and shipbuilding gives it a potentially decisive military advantage over the United States. The Chinese navy can build and repair its fleet for a fraction of the cost the US would incur. If competition ever turns into conflict, China could use its maritime dominance to choke the American economy and scale up its fleets at an extraordinary pace.Hudson will welcome Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Todd Young (R-IN) to discuss their proposal to restore America’s shipping and shipbuilding industries to help deter Chinese aggression.
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Domestic Politics, the US-Japan Alliance, and Tokyo’s Global Role Bipartisan Views from the Diet
Japan’s first minority government in three decades faces dynamic domestic and international challenges. For Tokyo to navigate these major security, diplomatic, and economic issues, policymakers will need to understand perspectives from across the Japanese political spectrum.Japan Chair Kenneth R. Weinstein will moderate a bipartisan panel featuring Japanese Diet members: Itsunori Onodera, Shinijiro Koizumi, and Kimi Onoda of the Liberal Democratic Party; and Koichiro Gemba of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. They will discuss how the Japanese government should approach domestic political questions, its partnership with America, and Japan’s role in the world.
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Ambassador François Zimeray on the Arbitrary Detention of Boualem Sansal
Boualem Sansal, a French Algerian author arbitrarily detained in Algeria, has long criticized political Islam and state-sponsored antisemitism in the country. For years, the Algerian regime harassed him for his activism, including a courageous visit to Israel. Since his November 2024 arrest, which has drawn widespread international condemnation, Sansal’s situation has worsened. He has been held in inhumane conditions and fallen gravely ill.François Zimeray, an international human rights lawyer and former French ambassador for human rights, is Sansal’s legal counsel. But Algeria has repeatedly denied Ambassador Zimeray entry into the country and targeted him in an antisemitic smear campaign.With Research Fellow Zineb Riboua, Ambassador Zimeray will examine the legal, political, and strategic implications of Sansal’s detention and what it reveals about freedom of expression under authoritarian regimes.
Founded in 1961 by strategist Herman Kahn, Hudson Institute challenges conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, energy, technology, culture, and law.
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