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

Through my participation in the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues Student-to-Student Dialogue program–and in particular, through my conversations with the other students from Peking and Fudan University–I’ve had the opportunity to hear the “Chinese perspective” on topical and theoretical issues relating to our nations’ interaction. The format of these dialogues explicitly encourages peer-level discussion, and to that point, I have found it easier at times to exchange ideas with conversation partners of similar ages and academic experience. Sometimes, however, I have felt that my Chinese counterparts do not hold so much of a disagreeing perspective, as a distinct one that is grounded in their own cultural and academic milieu. International diplomacy between equals requires cultural understanding, and I’m excited to bridge that gap during our in-person visit at the end of the spring 2024 semester.

In anticipation of that trip, it’s worthwhile now to review and summarize some of the major topics of our online dialogues from last semester. Our sessions so far can be categorized as dealing with: competition over the Global South, cooperation over climate change, and lastly, deglobalization and development financing. Beginning chronologically, I’ll review some of the more useful and interesting results (to me, at least) from all three meetings. 

From our discussion about Sino-American competition over engagement with the Global South, two conclusions stand out. First, all of the discussion groups agreed that the competition for influence between the two superpowers offers a profitable opportunity for the developing countries in question. The current geopolitical context is much more flexible than the dynamics of the Cold War, and countries in the Global South can leverage this competition for economic and political concessions while still maintaining their strategic autonomy as much as is possible. 

The second question, which is less obvious, is to what extent this competition benefits the United States and China, and whether it is worthwhile pursuing given the broader, historical trend towards a more genuinely multipolar international diplomatic framework. Several Chinese students protested U.S. obstruction of popular efforts to reform inequitable, legacy institutions like the UN or the investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) system, and it’s worth further discussing if this approach is coherent or even rational.

Our second meeting focused on the potential for and the importance of U.S. and Chinese cooperation to prevent global climate change. With regards to the Global South, it was clear to participants from both sides that the developing world is simultaneously less responsible for the cause of climate change while being more vulnerable to its negative consequences than the West. It should fall upon industrial nations with disproportionate levels of consumption and pollution to reduce their carbon footprints first, although the fair division of this burden between the United States and China is not obvious. A student from Peking University also highlighted our respective governments’ tendencies to conflate climate change cooperation with perceived zero-sum policy areas like national security and industrial strategy–this irrationally obstructs a necessary and positive-sum opportunity for diplomacy. 

Our last dialogue directly addressed current trends towards economic and political separation between the two countries. Although the end of the United States’ unipolar moment does present certain opportunities (see our first dialogue)–for example, China’s new role as an alternative source of development financing offers at least a second option without neoliberal economic policy strings (i.e. the International Monetary Fund)–deglobalization and economic fragmentation to the extent of recreating Cold War-era blocs would retard global growth, efficiency, and prices, to all countries’ detriment. It’s a risk that all policymakers, regardless of nationality, should be cognizant and wary of.

So far, I’ve found these dialogues to be enjoyable and productive, and I’m incredibly excited to continue them in-person in China this summer. Until then!

Julian Wang (SFS'24) is a senior majoring in economics and biology at the Walsh School of Foreign Service.