From October 1 to 8, 2023, the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University (PKU) organized a delegation of Chinese scholars to visit Washington, the capital of the U.S., and participated in the Meeting for the 2nd Stage of the Project Titled "Rebuilding U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange: A Two-way International Conference" held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) from October 3 to 5. Renowned scholars and think tank experts from various fields in the humanities and social sciences from China and the U.S. were invited to the meeting to come together to discuss how to rebuild and enhance scholarly exchange and cooperation between China and the U.S.

The meeting received strong support from the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. On October 4, Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., met with Chinese and American scholars attending the meeting. Ambassador Xie Feng highly praised the active efforts of the IISS, PKU and the CSIS in promoting the rebuilding of offline scholarly exchanges between China and the U.S. He emphasized that exchanges and interactions between think tanks and scholars from both counties have played an important role in promoting mutual understanding between China and the U.S., and that finding the right path for China and the U.S. to coexist in the new era also requires the deep involvement and contribution of think tanks and scholars from both countries. Ambassador Xie Feng, Minister Xu Xueyuan, and embassy officials of relevant departments held discussions with scholars on issues such as the future direction of China-U.S. relations, China-U.S. scholarly exchanges, and China-U.S. practical cooperation.

The meeting for the second stage of the project titled "Rebuilding U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange: A Two-way International Conference" program is under the topic "U.S.-China Scholarly Cooperation during a Period of Geopolitical Tensions". The meeting was divided into closed-door discussions and panel discussions. John Hamre, President and CEO of CSIS, delivered a speech at the meeting. During the closed-door discussions, participants delved into the discussion on the positive impact of scholarly cooperation between China and the U.S. In response to the challenges brought to scholarly cooperation by domestic social changes and national security factors in both countries, participants made various proposals at the individual, organizational, and governmental levels. During the panel discussions, several officials engaged in discussions with Chinese and American scholars, sharing their views on China-U.S. relations and China-U.S. scholarly exchanges and answering scholars' questions, they are: Daniel J. Kritenbrink, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Sarah Beran, U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs, and Kevin Rudd, Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Chinese and American scholars also had extensive exchanges with more than ten individuals from various sectors, including the U.S. Department of State, Department of Defense, Congress, the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the Pew Research Center, Eurasia Group, Financial Times, The Atlantic, and other organizations, on various branches of China-U.S. relations, yielding positive results.

The delegation of Chinese scholars was led by Yu Tiejun, President of the IISS and Professor at the School of International Studies (SIS), PKU. Members of the delegation are as follows: Da Wei, Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) and Professor at Department of International Relations, School of Social Science, Tsinghua University; Dai Xin, Vice Dean and Associate Professor (with tenure) of PKU Law School; Gui Yongtao, Associate Dean and Associate Professor (with tenure) of the SIS and Vice President of the IISS, PKU; Jie Dalei, Associate Professor at the SIS and Senior Research Fellow of the IISS, PKU; Niu Ke, Associate Professor (with tenure) at Department of History, PKU; Qi Haotian, Senior Research Fellow of the IISS and Assistant Professor at the SIS, PKU; Wang Jisi, Founding President of the IISS and Professor at the SIS, PKU; Wu Chunsi, Director of the Institute for International Strategic and Security Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS); Xie Tao, Professor and Dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University;  Yao Yang, Liberal Arts Chair Professor at the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) and Dean of the National School of Development (NSD), PKU; Zhang Ran, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education, PKU; Chen Danmei and Ma Li'ao, Research Assistants at the IISS, PKU; and Hu Ran, doctoral student at the SIS, PKU.

U.S. academic participants are as follows: Mary Gallagher, Amy and Alan Lowenstein Professor of Democracy, Democratization, and Human Rights, University of Michigan; Bonnie Glaser, Managing Director of the Indo-Pacific program, German Marshall Fund of the U.S.; Alastair Iain Johnston, Professor in the Government Department, Harvard University; Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, CSIS; Shanjun Li, Professor of Applied Economics and Policy at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University; Ken Lieberthal, Senior Fellow Emeritus in the Foreign Policy program, Brookings; Bonny Lin, Senior Fellow for Asian security and Director of the China Power Project, CSIS; Ilaria Mazzocco, Senior Fellow with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, CSIS; Andrew Mertha, George and Sadie Hyman Professor and Director of the SAIS China Global Research Center, Johns Hopkins University; Ethan Michelson, Professor of Sociology and Law, Indiana University Bloomington; Stephen R. Platt, Professor of modern Chinese history, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Daniel Rosen, Co-founder of the Rhodium Group; Scott Rozelle, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University; Deborah Seligsohn, Assistant Professor of political science, Villanova University; Matt Sheehan, Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Jessica C. Teets, Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College; Jessica Chen Weiss, Michael J. Zak Professor for China and Asia-Pacific Studies, Cornell University; and Zhao Suisheng, Professor and Executive Director of the Center for China-U.S, Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Other scholars attending the meeting include: Helena Kolenda, Program Director for Asia, the Henry Luce Foundation; Yuting Li, Program Associate for Asia, the Henry Luce Foundation; Bob Davis, Former Senior Editor at The Wall Street Journal; and relevant CSIS researchers.

The project “Rebuilding U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange: A Two-way International Conference”is co-sponsored by the IISS, PKU and the CSIS, with the aim of providing a platform for in-depth face-to-face communication and exchange visits between university scholars and think tank experts from China and the U.S. It is supported by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, and the meeting for its first stage was held at the North Pavilion of PKU in July 2023.

Editor: Li Fangqi  Photography: Chinese Embassy in the U.S. and Ma Li'ao