Pete Millwood
@petemillwood.bsky.social
Historian of US-China relations. Author of Improbable Diplomats (CUP, 2022). Lecturer in East Asian History, Melbourne Uni; currently Kluge Fellow at LoC
Good company to be in! Improbable Diplomats is on the shortlist for the Richard T. Arndt Prize for Outstanding Work on Cultural Diplomacy. www.instagram.com/p/DQAYH9xCdHh/
loisrothfoundation on Instagram: "Big news! 🎉 Six incredible works have been shortlisted for the first-ever Richard T. Arndt Prize for Outstanding Work on Cultural …"
Big news! 🎉 Six incredible works have been shortlisted for the first-ever Richard T. Arndt Prize for Outstanding Work on Cultural Diplomacy! Each one offers a unique look at how culture, curiosity, and compassion shape connections across borders. Check out these books below:🌟Nicholas Cull: Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World (book, Polity Press 2024)🌟Jennifer Lin: Beethoven in Beijing: Stories from the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Historic Journey to China (book and documentary, Temple University Press 2022)🌟Maximilian Klose: Why They Gave: CARE and American Aid for Germany after 1945 (book, Franz Steiner Verlag 2024 [German Historical Institute Washington])🌟Pete Millwood: Improbable Diplomats: How Ping-Pong Players, Musicians, and Scientists Remade US-China Relations (book, Cambridge University Press 2023 [Cambridge Studies in US Foreign Relations])🌟Alexis Peri: Dear Unknown Friend: The Remarkable Correspondence between American and Soviet Women (book, Harvard University Press 2024)🌟Elisabeth Piller: Selling Weimar: German Public Diplomacy and the United States, 1918-1933 (book, Franz Steiner Verlag 2021 [German Historical Institute Washington])Stay tune for the final decision in mid-December 2025!
www.instagram.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Good company to be in! Improbable Diplomats is on the shortlist for the Richard T. Arndt Prize for Outstanding Work on Cultural Diplomacy. www.instagram.com/p/DQAYH9xCdHh/
Presumably recent problems caused by confusion over just whose party it is
I voted for him twice but I must say I'm increasingly convinced Jeremy Corbyn may never become prime minister
September 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Presumably recent problems caused by confusion over just whose party it is
I voted for him twice but I must say I'm increasingly convinced Jeremy Corbyn may never become prime minister
September 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I voted for him twice but I must say I'm increasingly convinced Jeremy Corbyn may never become prime minister
One of my great fears rn is that this Kimmel thing is a Voldemort/baby Potter situation and Trump’s fear drives him to make a totally dislikable know-it-all into his ultimate adversary
September 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
One of my great fears rn is that this Kimmel thing is a Voldemort/baby Potter situation and Trump’s fear drives him to make a totally dislikable know-it-all into his ultimate adversary
Maybe people should have to fill out risk assessments for sending out work emails to >50 people
September 18, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Maybe people should have to fill out risk assessments for sending out work emails to >50 people
Only other gym user smoking during warm up. Man I missed mainland
September 15, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Only other gym user smoking during warm up. Man I missed mainland
Is James Blunt back and what will it do to Uber’s stock price
July 22, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Is James Blunt back and what will it do to Uber’s stock price
Shades of Ramires!
July 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Shades of Ramires!
Governor: do not panic, purge will be over by daybreak
July 12, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Governor: do not panic, purge will be over by daybreak
“FIFA have also invited children from the Make a Wish foundation so you know the future of soccer in North Carolina is bright”
June 28, 2025 at 9:56 PM
“FIFA have also invited children from the Make a Wish foundation so you know the future of soccer in North Carolina is bright”
Ok apparently this is a poorly explained change to… parking rules
Good time for #SHAFR2025 folks to be in DC! Last orders at College Park?!
June 24, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Ok apparently this is a poorly explained change to… parking rules
Good time for #SHAFR2025 folks to be in DC! Last orders at College Park?!
June 24, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Good time for #SHAFR2025 folks to be in DC! Last orders at College Park?!
Reposted by Pete Millwood
"Cheng’s focus on negotiations is illuminating"
What a superb review by @petemillwood.bsky.social on 'China Between Peace and War', published in @insidestory.bsky.social last week.
A must-read! 👏
insidestory.org.au/war-by-other-means-millwood/
What a superb review by @petemillwood.bsky.social on 'China Between Peace and War', published in @insidestory.bsky.social last week.
A must-read! 👏
insidestory.org.au/war-by-other-means-millwood/
War by other means • Pete Millwood
Could diplomacy have changed the course of postwar Chinese history?
insidestory.org.au
May 19, 2025 at 12:00 AM
"Cheng’s focus on negotiations is illuminating"
What a superb review by @petemillwood.bsky.social on 'China Between Peace and War', published in @insidestory.bsky.social last week.
A must-read! 👏
insidestory.org.au/war-by-other-means-millwood/
What a superb review by @petemillwood.bsky.social on 'China Between Peace and War', published in @insidestory.bsky.social last week.
A must-read! 👏
insidestory.org.au/war-by-other-means-millwood/
Nixon said he ended the embargo on contact with China. In fact, already by 1966 the State Department had given 150 validations for Americans to travel to China. Few got in, but that wasn’t because the US government stopped them
May 16, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Nixon said he ended the embargo on contact with China. In fact, already by 1966 the State Department had given 150 validations for Americans to travel to China. Few got in, but that wasn’t because the US government stopped them
This is what happens when you tell AI to be balanced
April 29, 2025 at 9:23 PM
This is what happens when you tell AI to be balanced
Madame Chiang Kai-shek spent the last decades of her life in the US. But first she was told to join a multi-year, heavily oversubscribed queue for Chinese immigrants to the country
April 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Madame Chiang Kai-shek spent the last decades of her life in the US. But first she was told to join a multi-year, heavily oversubscribed queue for Chinese immigrants to the country
Damn, things move fast
April 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Damn, things move fast
Analogy doesn’t completely hold but some parallel between Trump & Ukraine now and US & KMT in 1946-47.
Truman stopped weapons to KMT, & CCP played nice about negotiations. What did the Americans get? Momentary peace, followed by indefinite Communist rule of China and a fair few headaches.
Truman stopped weapons to KMT, & CCP played nice about negotiations. What did the Americans get? Momentary peace, followed by indefinite Communist rule of China and a fair few headaches.
March 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Analogy doesn’t completely hold but some parallel between Trump & Ukraine now and US & KMT in 1946-47.
Truman stopped weapons to KMT, & CCP played nice about negotiations. What did the Americans get? Momentary peace, followed by indefinite Communist rule of China and a fair few headaches.
Truman stopped weapons to KMT, & CCP played nice about negotiations. What did the Americans get? Momentary peace, followed by indefinite Communist rule of China and a fair few headaches.
When you hear neighbourhood dogs talking to each other it reminds me of those two weeks when Houseparty was a popular social media
February 12, 2025 at 9:59 AM
When you hear neighbourhood dogs talking to each other it reminds me of those two weeks when Houseparty was a popular social media
Chinese & American scientists continue to find ways to cooperate that serve the broader good, even at times of severe tension in US-China relations. Great story. www.economist.com/1843/2024/11...
Inside the AI back-channel between China and the West
Computer scientists are reaching out across the geopolitical divide to try to stop an apocalypse
www.economist.com
January 26, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Chinese & American scientists continue to find ways to cooperate that serve the broader good, even at times of severe tension in US-China relations. Great story. www.economist.com/1843/2024/11...
They’re going to boo Keys for winning too quickly
January 25, 2025 at 9:08 AM
They’re going to boo Keys for winning too quickly
I wrote these thoughts up in a bit more detail for ChinaTalk. www.chinatalk.media/i/154997896/...
January 18, 2025 at 10:19 PM
I wrote these thoughts up in a bit more detail for ChinaTalk. www.chinatalk.media/i/154997896/...
TV news talk shows are just Gogglebox but with C-list politicians
January 9, 2025 at 11:40 PM
TV news talk shows are just Gogglebox but with C-list politicians
Jimmy Carter would probably have said that establishing diplomatic relations with China was his greatest foreign policy achievement.
We might now think Carter was easy on China, but in fact he saw our moment coming much better than Kissinger and Nixon.
A short 🧵
We might now think Carter was easy on China, but in fact he saw our moment coming much better than Kissinger and Nixon.
A short 🧵
January 7, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Jimmy Carter would probably have said that establishing diplomatic relations with China was his greatest foreign policy achievement.
We might now think Carter was easy on China, but in fact he saw our moment coming much better than Kissinger and Nixon.
A short 🧵
We might now think Carter was easy on China, but in fact he saw our moment coming much better than Kissinger and Nixon.
A short 🧵