By: John Butler | Staff Writer
The “In Conversation” event hosted by The Pell Center on October 15, 2024 at Salve Regina University was a great success. The early evening address to the greater Newport community from Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed and Australian Ambassador to the United States Dr. Kevin Rudd AC was centered on discussing the threats posed by The People’s Republic of China, in addition to the active deterrents preventing global conflict.
The dialogue moderated by Dr. Jim Ludes of the Salve Regina Pell Center opened by getting straight to the point: discussing the status of the PRC’s current economic standpoint and what deterrents are currently in effect. Ambassador Rudd is widely regarded as an expert on China, as the thesis for his PHD was titled, “China’s New Marxist nationalism: defining Xi Jinping’s Ideological Worldview.” The audience was informed of how Chinese integration into the global economy was the biggest differentiation between the current PRC and the USSR in the Cold War Era. Ambassador Rudd then elaborated on the economic impact of a global conflict involving the PRC and the U.S., as they are the two largest economies in the world.
Another topic on the conversation agenda was the AUKUS alliance, which is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The main idea of this topic was the current nuclear powered submarine agreements in place. AUKUS is currently amid a “20-year plan,” in which Australia will purchase three nuclear powered submarines from the United States by the early 2030s, and then will engage in development for SSN-AUKUS submarines with the UK by the late 2030s. This plan ultimately concludes in the early 2040s with Australia building its own submarines. Australia is not expecting these subs to be built on other country’s money, as they have given the U.S. over 3 billion dollars to support this effort.
AUKUS is one of the previously mentioned deterrents to global conflict. As Senator Reed phrased it when asked on one of the biggest strengths of the alliance, “AUKUS is a force multiplier.” In addition to other alliances held in the Indo-Pacific region of the world, the U.S. has allies and influence in the region. The senator believes that having a presence in the scene is important because, “if we get in a fight, we have the best.” The global military presence in addition to the serious economic repercussions are the largest active deterrents.
To conclude the talk, a question posed from the audience was regarding what experiences and acts of preparation a young person should engage in before entering politics. Both speakers provided unique answers, starting with Ambassador Rudd who has a set of questions that should be answered before holding public office: “What do you believe in? Why do you believe that? What naturally interests you? How do you create a mission from that? Why do you need to do politics for that?” He referenced his time as a professor at Harvard as those questions provided a guide to his course. Senator Reed had a shorter answer which was delivered with the same effect to listeners, “Have a job outside of politics before you start – to learn invaluable skills and to see what works.” As well as to “have the spirit of public service.”
In addition to this event, a select group of students were presented the opportunity to meet with the speakers as well as have direct questions answered prior to the talk. The panel-like format was extremely engaging as a wide variety of topics were covered, ranging from Ambassador Rudd being the first Australian Prime Minister to apologize and recognize the mistreatment of natives in Australia; congress’ attempts to instill a regulation of social media; and commentary on the current situation in the Middle East. To close out this small group panel, both presenters reiterated the fact that “voting is a precious right of the democratic world and is to be cherished as such.”
Photo Credits to Salve Regina University
