美中全球议题对话项目

While eating breakfast in our hotel in China, we watched the plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress unfold on our TV screens. Our in-person U.S.-China Student Dialogue coincided with this year’s Two Sessions, where Beijing set its national and economic priorities.

As part of the trade and business cohort, we found ourselves asking pressing questions: How will the United States and China position themselves amid this new era of economic competition? Who will define the rules of the game? And how might those rules be shaped to ensure openness and fairness?

Our first day began with a campus tour of Peking University led by its students. Between lessons on the university’s history, we chatted about our hobbies and shared interests—from Wong Kar-wai to Tom Hanks. After a meal in the university cafeteria, we went to a classroom to design our final project. What were the opportunities for collaboration between the United States and China? The never-ending list of dual-use goods made it seem like de-risking and economic competition are here to stay.

Still, we concluded that fair and open competition could mitigate climate change, encourage medical advancements, and support global
development. 

At the research center of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, we heard about a different approach to the geoeconomics “game.” Researchers explained how DeepSeek, a Chinese open-source large language model, lowered barriers to artificial intelligence (AI) development. Quoting June Yoon in the Financial Times, China sometimes chooses not to compete directly with the US but instead redefines the playing field—“making winning meaningless.”

Exploring Beijing and Shanghai, we caught a glimpse of China’s fast-evolving technology landscape. One striking feature was the broad scope of industries under Chinese tech giants. Walking along the famous Wangfujing Avenue in Beijing, we visited stores from Huawei and Xiaomi expecting to see smartphones and tablets, but we were surprised to also see TVs, cars, and even washing machines. In Shanghai, we visited the delivery center of electric vehicle maker NIO and were impressed by the company branding itself not as an electric car company, but as a lifestyle brand. Besides producing cars, NIO had its own AI companion robot, smartphone, and merchandise. Borrowing the words of Princeton researcher Kyle Chan, China has built an “overlapping tech-industrial ecosystem” where you have a convergence of interrelated technologies, encouraging spillover effects.

On our second to last night in Shanghai, we took a ferry along the Bund, gazing at the city’s iconic skyline. As I looked out across the water, I was struck by how much of China remains a puzzle to me, one that can only be understood through honest dialogue and thoughtful engagement.

Andy Xu Sofia (SFS’26) is a junior at Georgetown University studying international political economy