Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues

Aanika Veedon: From wherever you're listening in, welcome. My name is Aanika Veedon, and I'm a senior in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) studying international politics.

Luke Hughes: And my name is Luke Hughes, I'm a third year in the SFS studying science, technology and international affairs.

Aanika Veedon: The two of us are the co-hosts of the Georgetown U.S.-China Student Dialogue Podcast, a student-run podcast through the Georgetown Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

Luke Hughes: After visiting Beijing and Hong Kong this past May with the rest of the spring 2025 cohort, Aanika and I felt compelled to continue the trans-Pacific dialogue we had the privilege of engaging in. We hope this podcast further demonstrates the importance of student voices in U.S.-China relations. We hope you enjoy.

And this is the fourth episode of our US-China Student Dialogue Podcast. My name is Luke. I'm a third year at Georgetown University, and I was a part of the cohort that went to Beijing and Hong Kong this past May to meet with Sonia and other students from Tsinghua University. And Aanika joined me on that trip as well.

And Sonia, just for some context, after we left China, we still wanted to continue these conversations. We still wanted to engage in dialogue and talk about trans-Pacific issues and talk about U.S.-China cooperation and competition. So we really appreciate you joining the Zoom meeting, especially so early in the morning for you. Without further ado, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself, you can share your major, where you're from, what you're studying, etc.

Sonia Chu: Okay, so I'm going to give a brief introduction. So I'm Sonia, and I'm currently studying at Tsinghua University. So, the university is in Beijing, that you've visited, and I'm currently studying a major of international politics and international relations, so I'm now a year two student. And I'm also coming from Hong Kong, a very international and vibrant place. So I'm open to new thoughts and open to sharing. So I hope to have more, like, more discussions with you guys.

Aanika Veedon: Thank you so much, Sonia, that was a really great introduction. And I love the point that you made about being open minded, because I feel like that's something that we talked a lot about prior to the trip, and it's awesome that everyone kind of went in with that attitude and perspective.

So, sort of brings us to our first question about the dialogue, and it's if you had any expectations going into it, or any hopes that you wanted to get out of the dialogue. And maybe you can share with us some context if you've ever participated in something like this before, too.

Sonia Chu: I think because now I'm studying international relations, I think it's important to know the views of other countries’ students. So I hope to exchange insightful thoughts with you guys, and in terms of our country's diplomatic policies or self-defense policies, something like that. And not defense, right? You guys changed to War Department instead of Defense Department, right?

Luke Hughes: Yes, that happened!

Sonia Chu: And I think, I also want to know how other countries feel about our country, China, so I want to talk about how you would think of China's policies, and so I think we can have more discussions about the topic. And I think, I hope that I can also give you some insightful thoughts, or some of my thoughts towards the U.S., like for the discussion.

Luke Hughes: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Now, Sonia - remind me. I was in the climate change working group. Aanika was in the artificial intelligence working group. I remember you were at the table right in front of me. Was that the peace and security group?

Sonia Chu: Yes, exactly, I was in the peace and security group. We talked about Taiwan, North Korea, and cyber warfare, and also weaponization of AI and warfare. So we actually talked a bit out of the topic, but it was a really great discussion between us.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, yeah, no, it sounds like you all addressed a wide variety of issues, because I remember writing down, I feel like the peace and security group was the last group to present, or you were one of the last groups. You guys might have been first.

Sonia Chu: I thought we were the first group, wasn't it?

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, I think it was AI and technology that was last. But we had a lot of - there were some overlapping areas, for sure.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, yes, because I remember writing down nuclear disarmament, and weapons disarmament, especially in the Korean peninsula, and I remember that stuck out to me because we hadn't really talked about that before, but your group was the first one to bring that up. So I thought you guys were last, because it stuck in my mind the longest. But I guess you just had a great note about that.

Sonia: Okay, thank you.

Luke Hughes: So what were some of your most memorable moments throughout the student dialogue while we were there in May?

Sonia Chu: I think the most memorable moments must be the last time we met up in Beijing. So after all the discussions we had online, and then we finally met up, and then did that presentation, I think through the presentation, I know I got a lot of interesting ideas from you, and also other students from China in different groups in terms of different topics.

And I also think that the last time we met up in Beijing, there were a lot of casual interactions between students. It wasn’t just like academic exchanges, but we talked about a lot of cultural differences, and then we tried a lot - you guys tried a lot of Chinese food. I hope you liked it. I think it's more of a cultural exchange and I hope we can have this kind of bonding further in the future, not just about academic purposes, but for other purposes, and then we can make friends and then have closer relations like this.

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, I really like that anecdote, because some of my favorite memories from the trip were sharing snacks and bonding over food. I feel like that's a universal, you know, kind of thing where everyone loves food, and Luke and I talk all the time about how awesome the dining hall was and how it's so much better than Georgetown's dining hall.

Sonia Chu: But yeah, we have, like, over 10 dining halls like that at Tsinghua, so you are welcome to be back.

Aanika Veedon: Sorry, yeah, go ahead, Luke.

Luke Hughes: I was gonna say real quick. Sonia, I think my favorite food that I tried, it was this, like, spicy pork that was really good. And then we also tried, I think it was, maybe it was plum juice, or it was grape juice, or it was something - I was with Jenny and and another student from Tsinghua, and they showed us: you grab, it's like a plastic container, and then there's a straw that you poke through the top. I think it was grape juice. And it was really good. It was really, really good.

Sonia Chu: Okay, thank you for your appreciation of our food.

Luke Hughes: I mean, for dining hall food.

Aanika Veedon: And my favorite was definitely Haidilao, when we went to hot pot on one of the first days, that's like.

Sonia Chu: Yeah, you saw the performance they were doing with the noodles? So cool, right?

Aanika Veedon: Yes! We said it was someone in our group's birthday. So they came out, they had, like, there were songs, there was music. They did the hand-pulled noodles. They gave her free dessert. It was awesome.

So Sonia, moving on to one of our next questions, which you touched on a little bit about, you know, developing U.S. and China relations. But what do you really hope to see in the future between our two countries?

And, I know you were in the peace and security group, but are there any political topics in particular, or anything within that group that maybe you think could be areas of potential collaboration in the future?

Sonia Chu: I think that technology and AI topics are going to be key topics for the future, because, you know, now there are a lot of uses and technology everywhere. So I think not just for like, peace and security, but in every area of our two countries, we have to discuss more on tech usage. For example, tech usage and, like, analyzing people's information, because we have a lot of collecting of people's information in China, and there's also tech use in education and some kind of privacy issue.

So, I hope to discuss more on AI in the future, because I think our group didn't talk much or touch much on AI for the presentation.

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, I mean, our group that I was in was the AI and tech group, and it was super interesting, because I don't have a very strong background in that. And it was fascinating to learn so much about a subject that I didn't know too much about, and I was kind of, you know, very optimistic about the suggestions that we kind of put forward after assessing the challenges. Because, yeah, it was really interesting.

Sonia Chu: And I think our group in terms of peace and security, we have a conclusion of just, have more communication, because I think for every topic, it's more important for us to collaborate, because those are global issues, and we should cooperate together instead of doing it alone. So, I think communication is really important between countries.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, I know we mentioned this with Lawrence in our podcast last week, Sonia, but we said how in times of tense geopolitics, whether it's between the U.S. and China or other countries generally, there are two lines of communication that are still continued. You know, when the countries are still talking it is when it comes to things like emerging technology and science diplomacy. So it's important, like you said, when it comes to regulating these new technologies, when it comes to controlling the new technologies, or the opposite of that, that scientists are still communicating.

And I'm curious, Aanika, it was Lawrence who suggested that students at Tsinghua and Georgetown can engage in research together, right? That we could work on research projects together.

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, I think that was something that he mentioned.

Luke Hughes: Yeah. Sonia, I'm curious. Do you think it would be beneficial if you and I worked on a technology project together, if we did a technology research project? I think that's a great way to maintain communication between our two countries at the student level. And what do you think would be the benefits of that, of students working together on issues that they're passionate about?

Sonia Chu: I think, first of all, it could be a good way to like for more interaction between two countries’ students, because if you have a common project, and then you have to work together, you have to have a lot of meetings, and you will get to know each other and know each other's culture. I think it's important for the U.S. and China to communicate. One point is for reducing discrimination or prejudice, you know, because we have a lot of weird thoughts or like stereotypes for each other. So when we work together, we can reduce these kinds of thoughts and then know the real American or Chinese.

And I think if we're doing a common research project, and we can use the information from both countries, because, for example, like, I don't know much, maybe I don't have access to some U.S. projects. Or, like, I don't really know what is going on with U.S. tech, so you can tell me, and I can also tell you what the emerging technology in China, for instance, if you don't know that we can do more in depth research with more information. So that's about it.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, I'm curious, have you engaged in dialogue with U.S. students before? Or was this your first opportunity to meet with students from the U.S.?

Sonia Chu: I think this is the first time I really have this kind of serious dialogue with U.S. students. But there are a lot of U.S. students in Tsinghua as well, so I have some casual interaction with them, but not dialogue for academic purposes.

Aanika Veedon: Was there anything maybe that you were surprised by when you met the Georgetown students that you weren't expecting from before the trip or the dialogue started online?

It was definitely a little hard for everyone to connect over Zoom and with people they'd never spoken to before and talk about tense geopolitical issues when we didn't really know each other. So it was really interesting that you had that experience, and then when you met in person, that perspective totally changed.

Sonia Chu: Yes, and then I think it’s really interesting. You’re not like the stereotype of Americans. I mean, like, I have a stereotype of Americans that you guys really like burgers, so..

Luke Hughes: And that we do.

Aanika Veedon: I love a good burger.

Sonia Chu: Okay, because Americans in Hong Kong, I don't know, [they love] Western food and not Chinese food. So I didn't expect you to like Chinese food. That was a surprise.

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, I will definitely say the Chinese food in America is very Americanized. So I feel like a lot of the things that people think of, like orange chicken or fortune cookies, or things that don't even exist actually, in China. So, yeah, it's really interesting. It's like a very westernized form of Chinese food.

Sonia Chu: Yeah, I saw [The] Big Bang [Theory], and they eat like fried, stir-fried noodles and tangerine chicken all the time. But I don't think we have tangerine chicken in China. We have a fortunate cookie, but for Lunar New Year. Not in every Chinese diner. So it's just cultural differences.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, there were also 15 students from Georgetown, and Aanika, if I'm counting correctly, there were 12 students who, Sonia, they speak Chinese, because they either are studying Chinese, or they have Chinese background. Were you expecting a lot of the students from Georgetown to already be familiar with Chinese culture, to be able to speak the language? What did you think of that?

Sonia Chu: I really saw, I only saw one of your students speaking Chinese, which is, I forgot his name, but he was in our group. He was - never mind, he didn't speak Chinese, but I don't think he's that fluent to have, like casual communication, like when you try to chat with him…not very fluent and not very comfortable, but I think, like Chinese, is a very complicated language system, so even you can study a little bit of it, it's already amazing, because English [is] just 26 alphabets and mixed together, but Chinese is not. Chinese language - you have to have four tones, and then a lot of phonics or something like that.

So it's much more complicated. So I think they're already very good, but need some more practice. You know, if you study a language and you don't use it, it is not gonna be good.

Luke Hughes: Sure, I remember. So we headed over to the National Development and Reform Commission, the NDRC, I think the same day that we were at Tsinghua, and we were asked to introduce ourselves, just to say our name, what we're studying, where we're from, and the staff at the NDRC were surprised to see that there were a good number of Georgetown students who could introduce themselves in Chinese and Mandarin.

So maybe, maybe some of the students can't hold many conversations, but at least they were able to introduce themselves, say their name. Where, you know, on the other side I was, I was really surprised to see how well the Tsinghua students spoke English, because in the U.S., we say “like” all the time, we say “uhm” and we pause a lot. You know, there's a lot of people in the U.S. who don't, honestly, have the best English. Sometimes they don't speak, you know, in the most proper ways. They say “like” a lot and have improper grammar. But I was really surprised to see a lot of the Tsinghua students knew they had a very expansive English vocabulary.

Sonia Chu: Okay, I'll tell the other students.

Luke Hughes: There you go. Pass it along. Pass it along.

Sonia Chu: Yeah, thank you for your appreciation for our English. I think we studied English for a pretty long time, and then Tsinghua is a place which requires you to study English oral and listening as well. So I think our English speaking is nice because of those kind of lessons. But yeah, practice more - you can do it in Chinese as well.

Luke Hughes: We will.

Aanika Veedon: In the SFS, the school that Luke and I are in, which is the School of Foreign Service, so everyone's basically studying international relations of some sort, we have to take a language and get to advanced proficiency with that, which is, I think, sort of similar to what you guys have, except, yeah, I mean, most people get to, like, pick whatever language they want, which is awesome as well. In addition, because I know you guys do English, Mandarin, and then you can pick another language to study too, right?

Sonia Chu: We have to pick another language. It's not that we can. We either like study advanced English or we have to study another language besides English. So I'm going for French, but it's too popular. I always can’t pick it. I've already tried to elect it for free semester, but it just fails. So I'm gonna depend on it next semester.

Luke Hughes: You got it. You got it. We have faith in you.

Sonia Chu: Thank you.

Luke Hughes: So now moving, moving on to our final question, and you've answered this a little bit, but we would love to talk about it more because it was the focus of the dialogue, the U.S.-China Student Dialogue. How could Georgetown and Tsinghua continue to work together to promote student dialogue?

So we've talked about how students could engage in research projects. We've talked about maybe how Georgetown students could go back to China. Could Tsinghua students come to the U.S. to engage in dialogue? How do you think our schools could continue to work together?

Sonia: First of all, it was a great success for the last dialogue that we had. So I think we can promote a little bit of it. And then I also think like, encouraging or attracting more students to join this program. And I think we can have some…I don't think we have to always do face to face interaction. We can also have something like a virtual chat room, or something like virtual space for Tsinghua students and Georgetown students to communicate.

So it would encourage more of us to know more of Georgetown, and of course, more of the U.S., and then more people will be willing to join the dialogue. Because, as I know, there were not much people signing up in Tsinghua in the first place for this dialogue. So I think that will be a good way to attract people, and then we can have some kind of school-to-school communication, or school-to-school collaboration, so we can have a more strong bond between two schools, so that we can hold further activities. But I don't think that's something we can do for school-to-school collaboration, but I'm just thinking of that.

Aanika Veedon: Yeah, well, thank you so much. Sonia, those are really great ideas. And before we wrap up today, is there anything else that you want to share with the audience? Any closing thoughts, comments, questions? The floor is all yours.

Sonia Chu: I think, now, Beijing is very beautiful because there are a lot of autumn views. So welcome to Beijing, and also welcome to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a really nice place, too. Welcome to my home country. Welcome to China. So I hope more of you come to China and see the real view of China, because apparently a lot of Westerners, they think, like, China is so undeveloped. So I want them to see the real China. So, welcome to come.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, thank you. We have a few friends who are studying abroad in China right now. So Meredith, who was a part of the US-China Student Dialogue in May, she's studying abroad in Beijing right now. And then, I have a few other friends who are studying abroad in Shanghai, so they're able to explore China and to travel around the country and see all of it.

And we were only there for, Aanika, we were there for five days, six days and I would love to go back. I'd love to see more of the country for sure.

Aanika Veedon: And try Shanghai soup dumplings. That's top of my list. Yeah. Well, thank you so much Sonia for coming onto our podcast and being with us today. We really appreciated all of the amazing comments and insight you had, and also extra appreciate you for waking up so early on a school day to come talk to us. So thanks so much.

Sonia Chu: Okay, thank you. Thank you guys for inviting us as well, so hope to see you next time.

Luke Hughes: Yeah, thank you, Sonia, take care.

Sonia Chu: Take care, bye, bye, bye.

Luke Hughes: Thanks so much for listening in.

Aanika Veedon: We will see you next time.