Youth exchanges seen as vital to future of China-US relations

Beijing's initiative of inviting young Americans to China on exchange or study programs is "extremely valuable" and "much needed", and it should be reciprocated by Washington, said a former career US diplomat who specializes in United States-China relations.

"I really salute China for taking the initiative to create this opportunity and this platform to give American young people — great, much greater numbers of American young people — the exposure to China that I think would otherwise be difficult to obtain," David J. Firestein, inaugural president and CEO of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, told China Daily in a recent interview.

President Xi Jinping, during his meeting with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco last year, announced that China would invite 50,000 young Americans on exchange or study programs over the next five years.

Since its inception, the initiative has hosted about 14,000 Americans, according to the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Firestein said that the initiative, which promotes exchanges on a mass scale, is both very valuable and essential, because it enables young people from the US to spend time with their peers and families in China and directly engage with the Chinese culture, language and people.

"And likewise, the United States should be doing similar things," he added.

Firestein proposed that the US and China redouble their efforts to create more avenues for exchanges, because that would make a real difference in the lives of young people and in the way they view people from the other country.

"The more that people go back and forth, the more we tend to humanize the other side, rather than demonize the other side," he said. "We've got to have much less demonization in this relationship and much more humanization."

Effective platform

During an event held on Dec 6 at the Chinese embassy to promote youth exchanges, Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng said the initiative has provided an effective platform that brings young people from both countries closer.

It has opened up an important window for better understanding China and ushered in a new chapter of friendship between the people of China and the US, Xie said.

Students from across the US — from the state of Washington to Texas, from New York to California, from Cascade Elementary School, Muscatine High School and Lincoln High School to Harvard University and Princeton University — have actively participated in the initiative, the ambassador noted.

Madelyn Ross, who was one of the first students from the US to study in China following the establishment of US-China diplomatic relations in 1979, said that China is strengthening promotion of the "50,000 in five years" initiative.

"It's a generous program. It's a good start. We can hope that many of those students who took part in these trips will continue to pursue an interest in China and the study of China as they go through their education," said Ross, president emeritus of the US-China Education Trust, at a seminar held on Dec 12 in Washington.

In November, the US government revised its travel advisory for China from level three to level two. That eased level, which she said is a "rather common" category, will allay the concerns of US parents and university administrators about sending students to China.

Ross said she is "a little more optimistic" about having more young people from the US going to China. "We need Americans who deeply understand China in order to manage various aspects of the relationship, and indeed we've come to rely on them," she said.

There is still "quite a lot of" pent-up demand among students who were not able to go to China for several years due to COVID-19, but who had put in time to study Chinese and wanted to go, Ross added.

US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns has said on numerous occasions that young people studying with each other and speaking each other's language is a way for the two countries to "stay connected on a societal basis".

For example, during a podcast on July 15 at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Burns said that China and the US need to stay engaged. He also said that he wanted to "see more American students in China", given that their annual numbers now stand at more than 800, down from 15,000 a decade ago.

In particular, Washington needs to have the next generation of China specialists "to take my place and to take the place of my colleagues" in the 2030s and 2040s to sustain this relationship, "because while we compete, we do have to live in peace with China", Burns said.

'Essential ballast'

In a commencement speech on June 14 at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, which is based in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, the US ambassador said that people-to-people ties were the "essential ballast" in the bilateral relationship, and Washington is "working hard" to increase the number of US students studying in China, in addition to providing more visas to Chinese students.

After hosting Chinese alumni from 35 US universities and US students studying in Beijing on Nov 21, Burns wrote on social media platform X: "Education is the key bridge to connect young Americans and Chinese."

Xie, the Chinese ambassador, said at the Dec 6 embassy event that the future of bilateral relations rests on young people.

"I encourage you to take up the baton of history and fulfill your responsibilities for fostering a stable, sound and sustainable China-US relationship," Xie said. "We welcome more young Americans to be part of the '50,000 in five years' initiative, and be partners and friends with your Chinese peers."