Summary
This paper, written by Valerie Ma, John Paul Rugaba, Stephen Vo, and Huiling Zhou, is one of the two winning proposals from the 2020-2021 U.S.-China Student Challenge, where students from the United States and China were tasked with identifying creative ways to reset the U.S.-China relationship at a turbulent, historic juncture.
The Sportsmanship Approach to U.S.-China Relations: Agreeing to Disagree on First Principles
Author: Valerie Ma John Paul Rugaba Steven Vo Huiling Zhou
Like a player’s expectation of shared conditions, this proposal suggests using the sportsmanship approach where the United States and China should agree-to-disagree on first principles. The student authors argue that such a framework will enable both sides to solidify communication, cooperate on shared interests, and align expectations on areas where interests diverge.