Opinion | Reset in US-China relations could start with educational exchanges

With his visit to Beijing, Antony Blinken has made a meaningful start to ameliorating the direction and tone of US-China relations

An important area that needs tangible improvement is educational exchanges, which have tapered off, acutely mirroring the state of relations overall

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People pass the Widener Library on Harvard University’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 16, 2019. The number of Chinese international students in the US has dropped by more than a fifth since then. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00am, 24 Jun 2023Updated: 2:11am, 24 Jun 2023

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing this week in what was seen as a landmark occasion. Blinken was the highest-ranking member of the two-year-plus Biden administration to visit China.

Clearly, Blinken’s visit was meant to be a start towards reversing the decline in US-China relations – and, hopefully, resetting it – when pundits in the United States, China and elsewhere had opined that things were at a nadir. It was widely perceived that something had to be done for the two countries to avoid conflict, including the possibility of war over Taiwan.

Reflecting China’s deep displeasure with the Biden administration, Blinken was not greeted on arrival in China by a high-ranking official. Nor was a red carpet to be seen when he alighted from his plane.

But things appear to have improved after his visit, if only in terms of hope for a positive change. The issues discussed at Blinken’s meeting with his Chinese counterparts included economic relations, trade and US sanctions against China, fentanyl and other illegal drugs on the US market that are said to come from China, the Ukraine war and educational exchanges.

Of these, the state of educational exchanges arguably mirrors the condition of US-China relations most acutely. At the crux are the Chinese students studying in the US, the American students studying in China, and the researchers that each nourished.

The number of Chinese studying in the US has become a very sensitive issue for both countries. Chinese students studying in US colleges far exceed those from any other country, but their presence only became controversial after suspicions that some among them might be stealing American technology.

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