REPORT: Avoiding Fatalism in U.S.-China Relations
Reports
Avoiding Fatalism in U.S.-China Relations
By Susan A. Thornton and Juliet Lee
June 16, 2023
Following last month’s Cross-Taiwan Strait Dialogue, the NCAFP held a U.S.-China Track II conference in New York City with U.S. and Chinese scholars. Despite the growing sense of fatalism in both the U.S. and China that bilateral relations are doomed to get worse, participants were adamant that talking was better than not talking. After all, an important function of dialogue is exploration and learning, and not every dialogue has to generate an agreement.
The NCAFP’s latest report, “Avoiding Fatalism in U.S.-China Relations,” makes the following recommendations for Washington and Beijing:
- Normalize people-to-people exchanges.
- Reestablish regular, high-level communications between the two militaries.
- Tone down zero-sum rhetoric, and begin to acknowledge some of the positive things the other side has done in an attempt to improve bilateral relations and rebuild trust.
- Normalize U.S.-China diplomacy at all levels on a full range of issues.
