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

As U.S.-China tensions rise, dialogue is essential for fostering accurate perceptions and revealing opportunities for collaboration. I’ve been grateful to participate in virtual dialogues with peers from Peking University and play a small part in people-to-people diplomacy. This is particularly important as the geopolitical landscape is changing dramatically—U.S. President Donald Trump will make key decisions on engaging with China, and Chinese President Xi Jinping will also make significant choices on dealing with a new U.S. foreign policy and foreign policy team. In a time marked by uncertainty and change, it has been interesting and challenging to have frank conversations with students from China and try to think creatively about the future of U.S.-China relations.

Our first dialogue, held just after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, offered a rare chance to exchange perceptions of domestic politics. It is often said that the first and primary responsibility of all U.S. diplomats is representation. I felt a similar duty to convey an authentic view of the U.S. experience. On elections, I emphasized the high voter turnout, that people like me stood in long lines to vote because we were passionate about the outcome, and that the election was free, fair, and accepted. Despite the chaos and messiness, the American system works. We discussed President Trump’s “America First” agenda and what that means for different constituencies. Meanwhile, Chinese students shared candid reflections on their country’s foreign policy, including Xi’s legacy and Taiwan, in a much more open and critical manner than I had expected. Where the media and elites in each country often pay superficial attention to the domestic politics of the other, direct dialogue helped us to go a layer deeper.

Our conversations underscored that accurate perceptions of each others’ motivations and priorities are the first steps in identifying where and how to work together. In one session, my group (six students from Georgetown University and Peking University) examined U.S.-China engagement on climate change amid increasingly tense bilateral relations. We left optimistic that there’s room for constructive engagement. While the public discourse is dominated by U.S.-China competition in electric vehicles, batteries, and other critical technologies, collaboration could thrive in areas beyond technology research and development (R&D). For example, how can we improve at measuring greenhouse gas emissions or deploying climate financing? A similar dynamic exists in artificial intelligence (AI) governance. Track II dialogues suggest that both countries recognize AI safety as a global public good, opening doors for joint efforts on incident reporting frameworks, verification techniques to underpin international AI agreements, and more.

Looking forward, expanding U.S.-China dialogue at multiple levels is critical. It was striking to learn that more Chinese students are on Georgetown’s campus (over 1,000) than American students in all of China (around 900)—especially as formal diplomatic channels face growing constraints. If we aim to tackle global challenges efficiently, we must work together. This starts by maintaining open dialogue among younger generations, who will inherit responsibility for the bilateral relationship. As a participant said, “有聊比不聊好” (talking is better than not), for it can lead to deeper engagement, understanding, and even cooperation.

Ashley Lin (SFS' 25) is a student at Georgetown University majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA), with a minor in Computer Science and a certificate in Diplomatic Studies