People-to-people exchange vital to China-US relations

Jan Berris, vice-president of the New York-based National Committee on US-China Relations, became emotional while speaking to the press during her visit to China last month with a delegation marking the 55th anniversary of ping-pong diplomacy.

Berris said the essence of ping-pong diplomacy was bringing people together. She believes that the more China and the United States talk, whether with allies or rivals, the better the chances are for the two sides to wind up in a much better place.

Since its establishment in 1966, the NCUSCR has devoted itself to facilitating understanding between the peoples of the two countries. Berris herself has visited China more than 170 times and helped organize the historic first US visit of the Chinese ping-pong team in April 1972.

The ping-pong diplomacy started in 1971 with a symbolic gesture. During a tournament in Japan, an American and a Chinese ping-pong player exchanged gifts following a chance encounter on a team bus. That brief encounter opened a bigger door. In April 1971, the US national ping-pong team was invited to China, becoming the first US group to visit China in decades. Three months earlier, US National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger had made a secret trip to Beijing. A year later, the NCUSCR organized the US visit of the Chinese ping-pong team.

The US delegation that visited China last month included many members of the original 1971 delegation, along with younger players who were deeply touched by the warmth and hospitality they received in China. It is widely hoped that the young players will carry on the legacy of ping-pong diplomacy.

Berris was concerned about the decline in people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, particularly the shrinking number of US students studying in China. Statistics show that the number of US students studying in China has fallen sharply, from over 11,000 in 2017-18 to barely 1,200 as of 2025, driven largely by geopolitical tensions and the scaling back of academic exchange programs. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese students studying in the US is much higher. There were 265,919 Chinese students in the US in the 2024-25 academic year. Stricter visa requirements and geopolitical frictions are behind this sharp decline from the peak of 373,000 in 2019-20.

It was a very different picture in 2014 when I covered the launch of the 10-year visa for Chinese citizens in Washington and the 100,000-Strong Initiative to encourage US students to study in China and learn Chinese.

The current situation has worried many people in both countries because it could mean that in the coming years, there will be very few people in the US who truly understand China — people who are capable of providing a profound and nuanced policy analysis for US leaders and officials.

The situation is dire at many think tanks in Washington and New York, such as the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Asia Society. I used to enjoy attending their events during my years there. But now the seminars they conduct on China don't have anyone from China on the panels. The result is a discussion that is often one-sided, less relevant and potentially misleading to the public.

Many US media outlets have also failed to contribute to a correct understanding of China and often indulge in negative and distorted coverage of China. J. Stapleton Roy, the US ambassador to China from 1991 to 1995, is widely respected for his deep understanding of the country. He once remarked that many officials in Washington, who finally visited China in the early 1990s after keeping away for years, were surprised that the country they saw was quite different from the one portrayed by the US media.

That misperception is likely to be repeated if China and the US do not maintain a sound momentum of people-to-people exchanges. My own experience is a testament to that. Since my first trip to the US in 1993, I have spent about 11 years in the country. Studying in US schools, staying with host families, visiting institutions, traveling across the country and covering news throughout the US gave me a comprehensive understanding of the country — its people, culture and politics, as well as its strengths and shortcomings.

There are encouraging messages from US President Donald Trump's state visit to China last week. In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News in Beijing, Trump defended his idea of welcoming 500,000 Chinese students to the US as positive for the country's education sector and for foreigners to learn about its culture.

As China and the US seek to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability, encouraging greater people-to-people exchanges is essential for strengthening the foundation of what is arguably the most consequential bilateral relationship in the 21st century.

The author is a columnist with China Daily. chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn

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