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

Georgetown University’s Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues explores the implications of China's evolving role in the Global South through research, publications, public events, and dialogues that engage faculty, students, and leading stakeholders from the United States, China, and countries across the Global South. 

From 2024 through 2025, the initiative sponsored the Africa-China Digital Infrastructure Research Group to examine how African individuals and institutions utilize Chinese-funded digital infrastructures. The group was co-convened by Ken Opalo (Georgetown University) and Anita Plummer (Howard University) and co-sponsored by the Africa-China Initiative (Walsh School of Foreign Service), Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, and Howard University’s Center for African Studies through a generous grant from the Luce Foundation. 

During the 2023-2024 academic year, the initiative convened a yearlong, multilevel dialogue among students from four leading U.S. and Chinese institutions—Georgetown University, University of California San Diego, Peking University, and Fudan University—around the overarching topic "What responsibility do the United States and China have towards the Global South?" The program culminated in an in-person dialogue in Hong Kong and Shenzhen in May 2024.

In 2022, the initiative launched the "China and the Global South" event series, hosting virtual dialogues and in-person events with experts about the evolution of China’s engagement with the Global South. ​​Panel discussions explore the continuity and divergence in China’s exchanges with different regions in the Global South, including Latin and South America and Africa, as well as its development efforts as part of China’s expansive Belt and Road Initiative.