After years of traveling across the Pacific to China, I returned to Beijing for the first time in April 2023 after the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions were lifted. Despite the drastic changes the world has experienced since 2020, particularly in the U.S.-China relationship, I was surprised by a feeling of normalcy upon my arrival. I was struck with gratitude that my personal and professional connections were the same as ever despite the rising political tensions between China and the U.S. that have tragically impacted so many aspects of exchange and collaboration between our nations. This experience underscored for me the importance of maintaining academic and cultural exchanges, which are crucial for fostering mutual understanding and addressing global challenges.
Before my trip—probably my 100th trip to China in the last 40 years! —concerned family, friends, and colleagues repeatedly asked me if I was sure I wanted to go and if I was worried about the visit. The combination of the harsh Covid lockdowns, quarantines, and mandatory testing that accompanied the “zero-Covid policy,” lifted in December 2022, plus the progressive chill in U.S.-China Relations since Xi Jinping came to power in China in 2012 and then Donald Trump in the U.S. in 2016, has transformed the U.S.-China relationship in a way unrecognizable to people like me who have spent their whole careers working, traveling, and living in China. There is currently even a “level 3” travel advisory for China from the U.S. State Department, put in place after the detention of the Canadian “two Michaels” and a general demonization of China that is the norm in government and the press.
But normal it was, in important ways that reminded me of the deep bonds between so many colleagues in both countries, most of whom do not work on national security or military issues. I spent the month of April in China reconnecting with a lifetime of professional colleagues and friends delighted at my return after three long years. We were mutually happy to see each other in person and it felt like we didn’t miss a beat catching up on work and life. My three subsequent trips this past year have only reinforced those connections.
Over the years, my work has largely focused on global public health and education, and I have spent the last four decades collaborating with China’s government, academic community, and civil society groups (many which I helped found during my years with the Ford Foundation) working to improve the health and lives of mostly disadvantaged Chinese – helping women get access to safe delivery services and other reproductive health services, as well as protection from domestic violence, or HIV infected villagers get live-saving drugs and services, and working with and supporting Chinese champions to change policy on it all. The many Chinese colleagues I have worked with on these and other public health issues share the same noble goals and dedication to social justice and evidence-based healthcare, reinforcing the importance of international cooperation in tackling complex issues.
There are so many like us across the spectrum of business, academia, the arts, and even government, who have dedicated themselves to fostering cross-cultural understanding and cooperation between the United States and China. But despite the majority of us operating far removed from security concerns or sensitive technological domains, the pervasive chill in bilateral relations has cast a shadow over our endeavors, even as our two countries have started talking again. This is detrimental to the future, as the mutual understanding fostered through extensive people-to-people contact between our two nations is crucial to avoiding conflict, solving global challenges, and reducing human suffering.
This chilling effect has not only hindered our collaborative efforts but has also perpetuated misconceptions about the safety of travel to China. Despite the real possibility of arbitrary detention, which is a rare event mostly affecting targeted business people or relatives of Chinese citizens in the crosshairs of the government’s security apparatus, travel to China is statistically safer than to most places in the world, with its low rate of crime, good healthcare system, and almost non-existent gun violence. The current travel advisory sends the wrong message, augmenting the very fear my family and friends warned me about for my first post-pandemic trip in 2023.
That being said, I fully embrace the reality of the security risks and support many overdue actions that have been instituted to reduce those risks; however, I fear we are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Most of the historic student and academic collaborations between China and the U.S. in fact have nothing to do with security. And the dramatic reductions in U.S. students studying in China and the exodus of Chinese scientists from the U.S. illustrate the damaging impact of current policies and the seemingly growing movement to securitize almost all aspects of the bilateral relationship.
It’s reported that over 25,000 leading Chinese scientists have already left the U.S. for Europe or elsewhere, and many others no longer apply for federal grants, due to heightened scrutiny. MIT Professor Yasheng Huang founded the Asia American Scholars Forum to highlight how the demonization of China and resulting rise in anti-Asian hate in the U.S. has spilled over to undermine our own talent pool. Moreover, initiatives like the FBI’s China Initiative under the Trump Administration, while now officially abandoned, has created a climate of fear for Chinese graduate students and scientists in the U.S., and even led to many labs closing their doors to Chinese scientists and graduate students who have been the backbone of life sciences research in the U.S. given their strong science education in the Chinese educational system.
In 2019 there were 369,000 Chinese students in American universities and over 11,000 American students studying in China. By 2022, there were still around 290,000 Chinese students studying in the U.S., 27% of the total number of international students, but there were less than 300 American students in China in 2022, many of them as part of the Schwarzman Scholars program where I currently work.
However, there’s been a slight rebound, with approximately 700 American students returning to China in 2023 after pandemic restrictions were removed and programs like the Yenching Academy at Beijing University, Hopkins Nanjing Center, NYU Shanghai, IUP, and Duke Kunshan welcomed back their U.S. students. But this is still a far cry from previous levels. Many undergraduate Chinese language and study abroad programs have moved to Taiwan.
Initiatives like the new government-to-government program aimed at bringing 50,000 U.S. high school and college students to China, reminiscent of President Obama’s 100,000 strong initiative designed to increase American students studying in China, hopefully signal a renewed effort to promote educational exchanges. As U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns noted, "We need young Americans to learn Mandarin. We need young Americans to have an experience of China."
My own program, Schwarzman Scholars, epitomizes the importance of fostering global understanding and collaboration. By bringing 150 scholars annually, including 40% from the U.S. for a year-long master's program on leadership, global affairs and China, we strive to cultivate the next generation of leaders equipped to address global challenges.
Additionally, several new initiatives, such as the Penn Project on the Future of U.S. China Relations, among the resumption of other high- level academic collaborations, are building new bridges for academic collaboration with China to train a new generation of U.S.-China scholars.
While these positive signs are encouraging, challenges and complexities in the U.S.-China relationship persists, making it increasingly crucial to champion the importance of fostering collaboration and understanding between our two nations. It’s vital for our country to distinguish between genuine security concerns and unwarranted demonization. By fostering an environment where collaborations can resume and flourish, we can pave the way for needed cooperation on a global scale on issues such as pandemic preparedness, an area close to my own heart.
As a longtime China scholar, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of cross-cultural collaboration and exchange. These experiences not only enrich our understanding of each other's societies but also lay the groundwork for addressing the world's most pressing challenges. By engaging with like-minded colleagues and fostering meaningful relationships, we can collectively work towards advancing the well-being of humanity and building a better world.
