Being there: American researchers extol benefits of returning to China
- Between Covid-19 restrictions and US-China frictions, trips by academics and think-tankers have dropped off sharply
- But three who have made recent extended trips confirm that there’s no substitute for in-person interactions
After three attempts and eight months of upended plans, Scott Kennedy finally returned to Beijing in September, determined to rejoin Chinese counterparts that he had not seen in person since 2019.
Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and a frequent consultant to the US government, has travelled to China for over 30 years – making six trips in 2019 alone.
He studies the gap between Chinese economic policy and its commercial performance, which requires on-the-ground research. But the purpose of his six-week trip this time was not just to collect data.
Part of a reciprocal swap with Wang Jisi, a professor of international relations at Peking University, Kennedy’s return also emphasised the irreplaceable value of in-person scholarly exchange with China.
Almost three years after the pandemic first spread and amid China’s zero-Covid policy as well as a deteriorating US-China relationship, fewer than 400 American students are in China, according to estimates Kennedy was given in October – a sharp contrast from 2018, when China was hosting more than 11,000.
Despite some business travellers resuming trips to China, few American academics have made their way back – deterred by quarantine rules and the unpredictability of China’s Covid policy.