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

More than 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 possibly adversaries.

The Center for the Study of Contemporary China’s Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations (“FUSCR”)brings together twenty scholars with expertise on the key issue areas in contemporary US-China relations (“Project Fellows”)--along with several eminent senior academics and practitioners who serve as advisers--to offer assessments and make recommendations on U.S. policies toward China on questions of national security, economic competitiveness and trade, technology, climate and environment, research and education, and human rights, law, and democracy.

The Project launched with a series of virtual talks in May 2020 by senior advisers, followed by an opening plenary conference in June 2020, where Project Fellows presented initial drafts of their policy papers. The Policy Papers were first posted on the Project website beginning in September 2020. Updated versions of the papers were posted in Spring 2021. Webinars hosted by the National Committee on US-China Relations and Penn’s Perry World House showcased the Project’s work and featured presentations by Project Fellows in Spring 2021. In June 2022, a dozen Project Fellows spoke at a “China Bootcamp” for congressional staff, co-organized with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and held at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, DC. Project Fellows also met with senior government officials and staff.

Briefings for US policymakers and staff, journalists, and the public are ongoing. Please see CSCC’s events calendar   for information on attending activities that are open to the public.

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.