30
September 2025
Past Event
The Politics of Purges: How Hu Yaobang’s Story Explains China’s Power Struggles

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

The Politics of Purges: How Hu Yaobang’s Story Explains China’s Power Struggles

Past Event
Hudson Institute
September 30, 2025
Getty Images
30
September 2025
Past Event

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

Speakers:
RS
Robert Suettinger

Former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, National Intelligence Council

PT
Piero Tozzi

Deputy Staff Director, Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Moderator:

Listen to  Event Audio

The Chinese Communist Party is an opaque authoritarian regime that many observers mistake as monolithic. But behind the image of strongman leadership lie precarious factions, power struggles, and a dangerous tension between reform and stability. Few figures in modern Chinese history embody these contradictions more vividly than Hu Yaobang, a former party official who was forced to resign due to his alleged tolerance of pro-liberalization protests.

Join Senior Fellow Michael Sobolik for a conversation with Robert Suettinger and Piero Tozzi about Suettinger’s book The Conscience of the Party, which explores how Hu’s story illuminates the broader patterns of CCP factional struggle. They will discuss what Hu’s experiences and legacy can teach policymakers about contemporary CCP power struggles, purges, and the ongoing tension between reformist impulses and the pursuit of stability under Xi Jinping.

Related Events
27
January 2026
In-Person Event | Washington Convention Center
Apex Defense Conference 2026
Featured Speakers:
Bryan Clark
Nadia Schadlow
Timothy A. Walton
(US Army photo)
27
January 2026
In-Person Event | Washington Convention Center
Apex Defense Conference 2026

Apex Defense, in collaboration with Hudson Institute, will host a dynamic defense technology event that unites warfighters, acquisition professionals, startups, small and medium businesses, investors and industry leaders to tackle operational challenges from the seabed to space.

(US Army photo)
Featured Speakers:
Bryan Clark
Nadia Schadlow
Timothy A. Walton
29
January 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Pax Silica: Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg on the AI Race and Economic Security
Featured Speakers:
Jacob Helberg
Joel Scanlon
Getty Images
29
January 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Pax Silica: Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg on the AI Race and Economic Security

Please join Under Secretary Helberg and Hudson Executive Vice President Joel Scanlon for a discussion on the Pax Silicia initiative, America’s strategy to win the global AI race, and the new geopolitical imperatives of economic security and technology.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Jacob Helberg
Joel Scanlon
04
February 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the Future of Trade Policy
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Jamieson Greer
Peter Rough
Getty Images
04
February 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the Future of Trade Policy

Please join Ambassador Greer for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow Peter Rough on the Trump administration’s first year back in office and what’s next for US trade policy.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Jamieson Greer
Peter Rough
10
February 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Assistant Secretary of War Michael Cadenazzi on Rebooting America’s Defense Industrial Base
Featured Speakers:
Michael Cadenazzi
Nadia Schadlow
DVIDS
10
February 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Assistant Secretary of War Michael Cadenazzi on Rebooting America’s Defense Industrial Base

Join Hudson for a conversation with Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi, who leads the DoW’s efforts to develop and maintain the US defense industrial base to secure critical national security supply chains.

DVIDS
Featured Speakers:
Michael Cadenazzi
Nadia Schadlow