Given the series of barbs traded between the United States and China lately, many observers are concerned that trust between the two is eroding permanently. But it can be saved.

Kobe Bryant’s tragic passing and China’s wide-spread admiration for the American basketball star remind us that U.S.-China relations are not just state-to-state relations. Instead, they should also be seen ¬as people-to-people relations.

The U.S.-China relationship is undoubtedly weakening. Bridging the educational endeavors of the two nations may pave the pathway to more harmonious Sino-American relations.

Between China and the US, one nation’s rise is not equivalent to the other’s demise. The United States and China must commit to each other’s prosperity if they want to reach a successful concession in their trade dispute.

Communication is about image. The image of a country, similar with those of a corporation or individual, generally includes three dimensions: first, who you are, and what kind of a person you are; second, what you say you are and are like; third, what others say you are and are like. When images of the three dimensions coincide, they would basically result in a complete and objective image. If they are partly missing or diverge too much from one another, the subsequent image may easily be distorted, or unconvincing.

I recently flew to China for an academic conference on some of the geopolitical and security issues dividing Washington and Beijing. I had attended the same event two years before and enjoyed the wide-ranging discussion. The conference was to bring together scholars from throughout Asia and beyond.

A group of experts on Thursday highlighted the importance of China-U.S. cooperation on education, and urged the two sides to enhance ties in this area.

There are clear consequences to deteriorating quality and reciprocity in China-U.S. educational exchange. Lack of understanding of the differences between both political systems means that policy will be crafted based on outdated information.

Racing for the exit in bilateral exchange programs threatens to take out of circulation the trust and goodwill that have helped both China and the U.S. prosper and keep the peace in one of the most remarkable bilateral relationships in history.

The US has recently begun denying visas to Chinese scholars not just in sensitive high-tech areas, but in the social sciences and liberal arts. These moves not only threaten America’s reputation for open-minded exchange with the outside world—some China experts in the US fear that the FBI’s actions are a warning of even more aggressive and paranoid “decoupling” of US-China relations in the days to come.