美中全球议题对话项目

The spring 2025 U.S.-China Student Dialogue trip to Beijing and Shanghai allowed me to experience a “sampler platter” of China on my own terms. I hit the ground running during our first full day in Beijing with our campus tour of Peking University (PKU), project working time with my Peace and Security group members, and candid conversations later in the day. Anakin, Diana, and Ceci (my group-mates on the PKU side) gave us a personal view of the PKU campus and how they lived in it. During our presentation planning time, Diana and I focused on seeking peace and security cooperation opportunities between the United States and China. We discussed our home countries’ perspectives on a range of issues to find opportunities for alignment. This proved to be a challenge, but we eventually agreed to highlight positive trends in controlling artificial intelligence (AI) in nuclear decision making, alongside opportunities for the United States and China to shape nontechnical AI standards. It was stimulating for me to process how the United States and China each view their own tech policies and interpret one another’s perspectives.

One highlight of the Beijing leg of the trip was our meeting with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the modern-day planning commission of the Chinese government. The NDRC meeting was a chance to feel out the sentiments of economic-focused policy professionals on issues such as innovation, utilizing factors of production, and the energy transition. The NDRC officials’ stances were very much informed by the fact that they worked for the government. This dynamic, while not unique to China, provided an excellent baseline understanding for future meetings. I highly recommend that future iterations of the U.S.-China Student dialogue trip consciously recreate this meeting with officials who provide the government’s official stances on issues early on to allow for more critical analysis in later meetings.

We traveled from Beijing to Shanghai via a high-speed rail service that to me symbolized the returns on the Chinese government’s investments to develop its economy and infrastructure. Shanghai compared to Beijing had a vast, towering, and distinct skyline. It was fitting that one of our core meetings in Shanghai was at the office of NIO, a prominent electric vehicle company. Their vehicles had a variety of user experience controls that I was not aware were possible, including an integrated AI assistant.

One of our last meetings was with researchers at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS). Since SIIS was an independent body compared to the NDRC, I felt like the conversation we had there was much more candid and free-flowing. This was important for me to see that on several topics, there was space for disagreement on government policies.

The most important takeaways I have from this trip are the connections and fun moments I shared with everyone involved: This is true for both the U.S. and Chinese  student participants in the dialogue. Regardless of where my professional career takes me, there is something profoundly fulfilling about exchanging shared experiences. The fulfillment I felt was not because we are U.S. and Chinese citizens, but because we are all university students unsure how we will find our own places in such a rapidly changing world. This feeling is something I hope to carry with me throughout my life.

Angelo Paule (G’25) is a second-year graduate student Master of Science in Foreign Service program focusing on science, technology, and international affairs.