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

I applied to the U.S.-China Student Dialogue filled with hope. In spite of the fact that hawkishness towards China was now a bipartisan issue, I applied to this program full of hope that we could find a path of mutual cooperation between the United States and China. In spite of the fact that both U.S. presidential candidates promoted “Great Power Competition” with China, I applied to this program with the hope that I could do my small part in rebuilding bridges that have been maliciously burned down. None of that hope remained by the first dialogue, two days post-election. Donald Trump had won.

We stumbled through the first dialogue, tasked with thinking through ways that the U.S. and Chinese governments could still cooperate with each other, on what issues, why, and how. We were grasping at straws for 45 minutes, reduced to talking about the social and economic ills of our respective countries. It was an exercise in what many call “doomerism.” By the time of the second dialogue, the shock had worn off, but I still hadn’t internalized it, that the worst case scenario had happened. Our conversations wandered, having gotten past the initial awkwardness and despair of the prior session. The second dialogue’s focus was entirely on Trump, how he changes the U.S.-China relationship and what he may do differently. We dwelled on this for as long as we could bear for a second time, but the conversation eventually flowed to discussions of the world order more generally, and, seeing as we were the climate change group, how countries around the world will respond to the disappearance of U.S. climate leadership, as well as whether the United States had “climate leadership” in the first place. The third dialogue was perhaps the most depressing of all as its entire focus was on climate change. I am deeply passionate about climate change and wish to dedicate my professional career to combating climate change, so discussing exactly what we all have lost in the climate fight with the election of Trump was uniquely draining, although we did share some bright spots by discussing how and why Trump may be motivated to work with China on select climate policies and technologies.

At the end of the day, the United States needs China as much as China needs the United States. We mutually rely on each other for trade to a degree that is only possible in the modern world. “Decoupling” and increased competition between the two countries is only going to lead to more aggression and conflict, for what? Supremacy and hegemony over a world mired in climate disaster? China is the world’s largest emitter, and a lot of that is driven by U.S. consumer demand, so both countries need to take joint action to reduce their carbon emissions and protect the environment. The consequences of unmitigated climate change will spell doom for the international order as we know it. And yet the allure of power, glory, and wealth has distracted policymakers from the one thing that matters: the future.

Sam Buan (SFS'26) is a student at Georgetown University majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a concentration in Energy and Environment and minoring in Chinese and Physics.