Open QuestionsYuen Yuen Ang on how China can turn ‘polycrisis’ into ‘polytunity’
The Johns Hopkins professor of political economy says Beijing’s ‘directed improvisation’ remains essential at a time when innovation is king
Yuen Yuen Ang is the Alfred Chandler Chair Professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University. She is an influential scholar, writing extensively on China’s political and economic trajectory, its international relations and its adaptive development in a fragmented, unpredictable world. Originally from Singapore, her award-winning work includes the books How China Escaped the Poverty Trap and China’s Gilded Age.
As a professor based in the United States, do you think there is a general decline in knowledge about China there? Can that be attributed to the sharp drop in Americans studying in China?
To put things in historical context, I would point to my “grand teacher” Michel Oksenberg.
He served in the administration of US President Jimmy Carter, and was the expert behind the normalisation of relations between the US and China. In addition to his policy work, he was a passionate educator who nurtured generations of China experts. A majority of leading China scholars today are his disciples or grand-disciples – including myself.
I’m sharing this story to remind us of how deeply and purposefully the pioneers of US-China engagement had invested in helping American policymakers and the public understand China. They went to great lengths to build up a community of expertise.
By comparison, does China have a similar knowledge infrastructure about the US that has been built up over decades? Foreign policy experts often debate “what the West got wrong about China” – but I would pose the reverse: does China also get the West wrong?
Another factor, I think, contributing to misunderstandings is the social media environment.