Edina Great Decisions: China & the U.S.

For the past ten years, the United States and China have been locked in a competition for who has the greatest global influence. One major point of contention is the issue of Taiwan, which has become even more relevant recently with the possibility that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may prompt China to take similar action regarding Taiwan. How will the United States engage a China which is increasingly seeking to expand its sphere of influence?

This program is presented by Edina Community Ed through a partnership with the Edina Senior Center, the Edina Library, and Edina Community Center.

The Great Decisions program addresses nine of the most critical foreign policy issues facing the United States each year and serves as the focal text for discussion groups across the country. Global Minnesota facilitates one of the largest statewide Great Decisions programs in the country by providing access to a roster of local foreign policy experts and to discussion materials produced by the Foreign Policy Association. Join Global Minnesota and the Friends of the Edina Library at the Edina Community Center for an in-depth discussion of the tense relationship between the world’s two largest powers.

Kannan Solayappan, presenter

Kannan Solayappan grew up in Chennai in Southern India and earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at a university in Bangalore. He then worked for 15 months in an Indian nylon factory as a graduate engineer. In the late 1980s, he saw the promise of computers and went to Australia to study computer science, graduating with a master’s in 1992. He then got married and came to work in the U.S. Starting as a software developer in the San Francisco Bay area, he moved to Minnesota in 1998 and has been a software consultant here for over 20 years now. In these years he has worked in most of the major companies in Minnesota, including IBM, Mayo Clinic, American Express, Cargill, 3M, United Health Care, Medtronic, U.S. Bank and now Wells Fargo. He lives in Eagan with his wife, Vallikannu, who works as a banker in Wells Fargo.

Special thanks to the Friends of the Edina Library for hosting this program.

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