On November 10, APSI and DUCIGS organized a local webinar about science and technology cooperation and engagement between the U.S. and China featuring Duke Professor Denis Simon, Richard P. Suttmeier (University of Oregon), Mark Cohen (University of California, Berkeley), and Paul Triolo (Eurasia Group). The event was a local follow-up to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations' CHINA Town Hall.

On October 28, 2020, APSI hosted the first Duke Study in China (DSIC) Virtual Alumni Reunion, celebrating 38 years of this unique language immersion program.

Register online for the Spring 2021 semester at dukehub.duke.edu.

“Globalism was designed precisely to … show sufficient deference for and understanding of your roots, your home culture while at the same time being engaged globally and enhancing your global awareness.” - Dr. Denis Simon, quoting Liu Jingnan, the first chancellor of Duke Kunshan University

On Friday, October 23, Caroline Randall Williams and Cathy Park Hong, both authors and poets, discussed the role of the engaged artist in building Black and Asian alliances and communities in a pandemic that has led to polarization. The virtual event was moderated by Professor of Theater Studies Esther Kim Lee and Patrice Douglass, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies with an introduction by Nayoung Aimee Kwon, Associate Professor in the Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and director of the the Asian American & Diaspora Studies Program.

In a September 2020 webinar organized by Duke’s Global Asia Initiative, scholars, Sunil Amrith (Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History, Yale University) and Clark Alejandrino (Assistant Professor of Chinese History, Trinity College) discussed the roles of climate and history in monsoon Asia. Prasenjit Duara, Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University and the Director of the Global Asia Initiative, moderated the webinar that saw attendees from around the world.

"Translation and the Virus: Covid-19, Cyber Politics, and Fang Fang's Wuhan Diary " was an online event with Carlos Rojas, Eileen Chow, and Michael Berry, hosted by Duke's Asian/Pacific Studies Institute on September 11, 2020.

This mini-series ranged from biography to fiction, touching on themes of religion, freedom, community, identity, immigration, and environmentalism.

APSI welcomed five students beginning graduate studies in Fall 2020 for the Master of Arts in East Asian Studies program.

On August 1, Duke University Professor Edmund (Eddy) Malesky became the director of the Duke Center for International Development (DCID) .