美中全球议题对话项目

Three weeks after the conclusion of the U.S.-China Student Dialogue, there are still tokens of the trip that permeate my daily life: carrying my Peking University lion bag, using NIO Life pens during examinations, wearing my Shanghai shirt to class, and listening to Jay Chou songs on walks. While these materials help preserve my experiences, I long for these memories to last because of their impact on my life. Thus, in a way, I use this reflection as a time capsule.

My most significant takeaway from this adventure was that when the formal channels of diplomacy fail, civil society – especially student-to-student dialogue – has the incredible opportunity to be a substitute to sustain the pursuit of progress. When I share with peers in the United States that I had a candid and constructive dialogue about the Taiwan issue with students in China, I get bewildered looks. However, the “impossible” issue does not seem so impossible anymore. I learned that the most difficult thing about having a difficult conversation is starting the conversation. Through this experience, I became more certain that students play a decisive role in shaping this relationship because dialogue is second nature to us. We are wired to engage in discourse.

When the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai asked to describe our experience in China thus far in one word, I had responded “discovery”—something new, transformative, and recalibrating. While this was certainly true, there was also something incredibly familiar about this experience. We all miss home, wherever it may be, we all cannot wait to text our friends to meet up at the dining hall, and begrudgingly, we all have that load of laundry at home that needs to be washed. We all have hopes and dreams for the future—namely, to work in diplomacy at some level. More importantly, we are all on this journey toward self-discovery and success, and had the fortune of intersecting paths for a brief time.

If I were to answer the question from AmCham now, I would define my experience as one of great “learning.” I learned about the Chinese electric vehicle industry, how Chinese think tanks collect and disseminate information to make policy impacts, why removing artificial intelligence technologies from the nuclear decision-making process is a shared interest, and what turbulent conditions exist for American businesses trying to enter China. I learned that while climate change priorities might be receding on the American front, we agree that Trump’s transactionalism may be an asset. As a sophomore, being surrounded by such a wealth of knowledge – in both peers and mentors – was humbling and invaluable.

When one of my Beida friends sent me a screen protector in Shanghai from Beijing, concerned about the cracks in my phone, I knew this was the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship. Back in Washington, DC, when I am in that inevitable class or lecture, hearing about how China does “this” thing unfairly or does “that” to some malicious end, it will bring me great sadness that my Beida friends will be wrapped into that characterization, but it will bring me great comfort that I have the privilege to know better than to conflate an always kind, generous, and hospitable people with a government.

Ashton Basak (SFS‘27) is a student at Georgetown University studying international political economy with a certificate in diplomatic studies.