Upcoming | Ukraine: What Happened? What’s Next?
Despite weeks of heightening tensions and warnings, Russia’s advance into Ukraine on 22 February 2022 came as a shock to the world. As Russian military pushes deeper into Ukraine, the implications of this conflict are likely to cause a ripple effect across the region and beyond. As a salvo of sanctions are being calibrated against Kremlin, a broad range of speculations about Vladmir Putin’s moves, responses of Joe Biden and his NATO partners, and China’s reaction have surfaced.
As the crisis unfolds and public debates stand more divided than ever and disinformation on social media abounds, how can we make sense of this crisis and its far-reaching implications for the future of the world order? How is this development going to impact geopolitical fault lines that are already complex and precarious? In this conversation, we will examine, from three different and imperative perspectives (Chinese, European, and Russian) , the causes and consequences of the Ukraine Crisis.
Speakers:
Victor Gao, Vice President, Center for China and Globalization (CCG)
Piet Steel, President, Europe-Asia Center
Anna Vassilieva, Professor of Russian Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS)
Moderator:
Zoon Ahmed, Research Fellow, Center for China and Globalization (CCG)
Victor Gao is Vice President of CCG, the Chairman-Elect of the National Organization Committee of the IGU (International Gas Union)/the WGC 2024 (World Gas Conference) 2021-2024; Chairman of China Energy Security Institute; Vice Chairman of China Beidou Industrial Promotion Organization, Chairman of OBOR Group of Hong Kong, a member of the Beijing Energy Club, a Member of the Global Counsel of Asia Society in New York City, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Energy Intelligence Group in London; an advisor to Saudi Aramco and a member of the Board of Directors of several listed companies in Hong Kong.
Victor Gao has extensive experience in government, diplomacy, securities regulation, legal, investment banking, PE, corporate management and media. Victor was Deng Xiaoping’s English interpreter in the 1980s. Victor served as the China Policy Advisor at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 1999 and 2000. Victor’s prior investment banking experience included senior positions with Morgan Stanley (Vice President of Morgan Stanley Asia, in the Merger, Acquisition and Restructuring Department), CICC (General Manager of the Investment Banking Department, Head of M&A Practice, and Head of CICC Hong Kong Investment Banking Department) and Daiwa Securities (Co-Chairman of China, Executive Vice President and Managing Director). Victor’s corporate management experience included senior positions with CNOOC Limited as its Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Company Secretary, Member of the Investment Committee, and Director of CNOOC International.
Piet Steel is a Belgian (Ret.) Ambassador, having held between 1975 and 1997 leading diplomatic assignments in Geneva, Hanoi and Hong Kong. Mr Steel retired from the foreign service in 1997 and became Director Public Affairs of the Solvay Group (Belgium), overseeing the chemical and pharmaceutical company’s global government affairs activities. In 2005 he has joint Toyota Motor Europe as Vice-President of External Affairs, responsible for Government relations in Europe and the EU. The Government of Japan appointed Mr Steel in 2010 Honorary Consul General for the Flanders region. With his extensive international experience and networks in Europe and Asia, Mr Steel remains to be a trusted advisor of Belgian and international companies. He is furthermore also a Member of the Board of a Belgian real estate company.Piet Steel is personally engaged in various social and societal organisations. He is Honorary Chairman of the Belgium Hong Kong Society, Co-founder of the Belgium Vietnam Alliance, President of the Board Special Olympics Belgium, President of the Europe Asia Center, Member of the Board of the International Polar Foundation and Vice President of the Strategic Council of the Belgian Polar Secretariat. He was appointed “Distinguished Visiting Fellow” of the European Business School of Regent’s University in London, Honorary Professor of Xi’an University for International Studies (China), Member of the International Advisory Council of the American European Community Association and Advisor to the Brussels Diplomatic Academy. Piet received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award of the Lions International for dedicated humanitarian services.
Anna Vassilieva is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), head of its Russian Studies Program, and founding director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies. Professor Vassilieva’s research interests include contemporary Russian politics, U.S.-Russia relations, new formats of graduate education in international relations.
As director of the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, a graduate program funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Professor Vassilieva launched a Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia that is in its fifth year now. Professor Vassilieva produced The Ambassadorial Series, The Bridge (jointly with the National Security Archives), podcast series Geopolitics on the Move, among a number of other projects and initiatives. With faculty colleagues at MIIS, she pioneered the development and implementation of Monterey Model courses – teaching modules taught simultaneously in a variety of languages to advanced language speakers on a wide range of current topics. Professor Vassilieva is an author, translator, and editor. She has written and translated widely in English and Russian.
