Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations

Forty years after the normalization of relations between the United States and China, the relationship faces new and fundamental challenges with global implications. The long-standing consensus supporting a U.S. policy of engagement has collapsed. Some see a “new Cold War” as likely, and perhaps necessary. There is no ready template for a relationship between two great powers that are deeply interdependent, yet increasingly see one another as rivals and possible adversaries.

The Center for the Study of Contemporary China’s Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations brings together twenty, mostly “next generation” thinkers--along with several eminent senior scholars and practitioners who will serve as advisers--to offer assessments and make recommendations on key issues in several areas of U.S. policies toward China, including security, economics, technology, environment, and protecting or promoting liberal values (in human rights, rule of law, education and research, and other areas).

The Project launched with a series of virtual talks in May 2020 by its senior advisers, and an opening plenary conference in June 2020 where its twenty writers presented initial drafts of their policy papers.

The Project’s policy papers will be made publicly available, in stages, on the Project website beginning in September 2020. A wide range of briefings for US policymaking audiences, journalists, and the public will follow over the course of the next year, starting with a series of webinars that will highlight policy papers in each of the Project’s six issue areas, focusing on one issue area each week. These will be held every Friday at 12:30 from September 25 through October 30--the final Friday before the U.S. election. The webinars are free and open to the public. Please see the event calendar below for more details, including how to register.

The CSCC Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations is supported by generous grants from the University of Pennsylvania’s China Research & Engagement Fund and from the Henry Luce Foundation.