MOROFUJI Seminar

MOROFUJI Seminar

We promote intellectual dialogue and cultural exchange by inviting international thought leaders who shape the outlook of a dynamically changing world. This program is funded by the generous support of Mr. Shuhei Morofuji (CEO & Founder, Reapra).

We promote intellectual dialogue and cultural exchange by inviting international thought leaders who shape the outlook of a dynamically changing world. This program is funded by the generous support of Mr. Shuhei Morofuji (CEO & Founder, Reapra).

October 2022: Mr. Matt Pottinger

In October 2022, the International House of Japan (IHJ) invited Mr. Matt Pottinger to Japan. Mr. Pottinger is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Chairman of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

On Tuesday October 25, 2022, the IHJ held a seminar in which IOG Director Kazuto Suzuki hosted a dialogue with Mr. Matt Pottinger. As Xi Jinping began a third term after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Mr. Pottinger explained what the new Chinese leadership means, what it aims to do, its implications on the economy, relations with Russia, the US’s National Security Strategy, as well as the US’s human rights diplomacy. Among other points, he stressed the need for Japan and the US to collaborate and rapidly enhance the defense capability to deter China from making a misjudgment.

The seminar can be viewed below (recorded on October 25, 2022):
Matt Pottinger is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Chairman of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Matt served at the White House for four years in senior roles on the National Security Council staff, including as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2019 to 2021. In that role, Matt coordinated the full spectrum of national security policy. Before that he served as Senior Director for Asia, where he led the administration’s work on the Indo-Pacific region, and in particular its shift on China policy.

Before his White House service, Matt spent the late 1990s and early 2000s in China as a reporter for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. He then fought in Iraq and Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine during three combat deployments between 2007 and 2010. Following active duty, Matt founded and led an Asia-focused risk consultancy and ran Asia research at an investment fund in New York.