Fourth annual China Town Hall forum explores U.S.-China relations

With some students like College sophomore David Holliday saying that their classes are emphasizing the United States-China relationship, Monday’s China Town Hall forum was particularly relevant.

Monday, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations hosted China Town Hall, a national day of programming highlighting the problems in U.S.-China relations and featuring a webcast with U.S. Ambassador to China and Penn alumnus Jon Huntsman, Jr. This is the fourth annual China Town Hall. The webcast was shown in conjunction with on-site panels and speakers at over 50 venues across the country, including Penn Law School.

Penn’s panel featured Penn professor and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies Jacques deLisle and David Lampton, dean of faculty and director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Lampton claimed that this is not the best time in the U.S.-China relationship, but said he hopes that communication will help fight the growing distrust. “There are forces of decay and forces of destruction at work here,” Lampton said. According to Lampton, the Obama administration has issued a series of documents that have been less confrontational towards China.

Huntsman, in the live webcast from Beijing, emphasized the importance of education among the younger population. In order to create a better relationship between the two countries, Huntsman said, more young people should have the opportunity to understand and study foreign cultures. He said an understanding of history, background and traditions is the only way for the United States to generate a mutual understanding.

Huntsman also said he hopes that there will be an emphasis on public diplomacy and that an increased dialogue between the Chinese and American militaries will change the growing mistrust. “We must be able to identify points of convergence and the things we have in common.”

China currently invests $2 trillion in the U.S. economy, but Huntsman asserted that this does not play a role in trade discussions. He said he is working to create a new era in China of innovation and economic flexibility, which will in turn aid the American economy.

He added that a joint understanding between the nations will help remedy climate change. While both China and the United States are currently engaged in clean energy projects, Huntsman said he felt that more could be done in creating sustainable communities as populations increase on both sides of the Pacific.

Student reaction was positive. “My classes are emphasizing the key issues in the U.S.-China relationship. This made me interested in what Jon Huntsman had to say. I found this pretty informative and they did a pretty good job applying the current issues of free trade and national security into the discussion,” Holliday said.

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