Tuesday, August 19 | 8:00 – 9:15 pm ET Online via Zoom
In August, USCET will feature three Chinese experts whose experiences span different eras of bilateral relations. Each will reflect on how their time overseas strengthened their understanding, shaped their professional journey, and impacted the bilateral relationship. This discussion brings together experts whose decisions to study abroad were made under dramatically different historical circumstances: from those who came to the US during the optimistic opening of the 1980s, to mid-career professionals who navigated the post-9/11 security environment, to recent graduates entering a landscape of strategic competition—each generation faced distinct motivations, challenges, and opportunities that reflected the broader bilateral relationship of their time.
Minxin Pei, Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies, and Zichen Wang, Founder of Pekingnology and international scholar of Chinese policy, will be joined in dialogue by Xie Tao, Professor and Dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University. The panelists will reflect on their experiences as Chinese professionals and scholars in the United States, the political and institutional forces shaping Chinese scholar migration, and how these cross-border journeys have influenced their careers, identities, and views on U.S.–China relations.
Amid increased pressures for Chinese international students, how do former students in America view the future of bilateral academic ties? What advice do experts have for the next generation of Chinese students interested in America? Join us on Tuesday, August 19, from 8:00 to 9:15 PM Eastern Time (Wednesday, August 20 8:00 to 9:15 AM China Time) as we explore the past and future of Chinese academic travel to the United States.
This event is the second of our two-part webinar series, which highlights multi-generational panels of Chinese and American professionals who studied in each other’s countries. Click here to view the recording of our July event, featuring Americans in China.
Speaker Biography
Panelists
Minxin Pei is the Tom and Margot Pritzker ‘72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. In 2019 he was the inaugural Library of Congress Chair on U.S.-China Relations. Prior to joining Claremont McKenna College in 2009, he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served as its director of the China Program from 2003 to 2008. He was an opinion columnist for Bloomberg (2023-2024) and the author of From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (1994); China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (2006); China’s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay (2016); The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China (2024); and The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism (2025).
Minxin received his Ph.D. in government at Harvard and taught at Princeton University (1992-1997). He is the recipient of the National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, the Robert McNamara Fellowship of the World Bank, and the Olin Faculty Fellowship. His op-eds and columns have appeared in the New York Times, the WSJ, the Washington Post, FT, Nikkei Asian Review, Project Syndicate, the Economist, Bloomberg, and many other publications.
Zongyuan Zoe Liu is Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations.
Dr. Liu’s regional expertise is in East Asia, specifically China and Japan, and the Middle East, specifically Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions.
Zichen Wang is Research Fellow and Director for International Relations at the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading non-governmental think tank in Beijing since October 2022. Before that, he worked for over 11 years for Xinhua News Agency in two Chinese provincial capitals, Brussels, and Beijing, where he won many internal awards. He founded Pekingnology, a China newsletter with nearly 20,000 subscribers and also edits The East is Read, with 11,000 subscribers, at CCG. There, he locates, highlights, summarizes, translates, and annotates Chinese policy discussions for an influential global audience.
Zichen has been invited to speak at various think tanks, forums, and events, including the Council on Foreign Relations, Swiss Parliament, Stockholm China Forum, etc. Since July 2024, he has been pursuing a mid-career Master’s in Public Policy at Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) on a SPIA fellowship.
Moderator
Xie Tao is professor and dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University. His research interests include Congress, public opinion, and China-U.S. relations. He has published extensively in both Chinese and English.
He holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University (2007). He is the author of U.S.-China Relations: China Policy on Capitol Hill (Routledge 2009) and Living with the Dragon: How the American Public Views the Rise of China (with Benjamin I. Page, Columbia University Press, 2010). He has also published several articles in the Journal of Contemporary China, including “What Affects China’s National Image? A Cross-national Study of Public Opinion” (September 2013). He is a frequent guest at CCTV News, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and China Radio International.
This event is made possible with generous support from the US Embassy in Beijing
China Connections
Why should Americans be interested in China? USCET launches China Connections, a new monthly series hosting discussions with experts to explore their work, gain insights into current events, and learn what a career in the China field looks like today. These events highlight individuals with unique expertise on China to provide students, young professionals, and members of the public a deeper understanding of current events and increase American student interest in pursuing a focus on China. These events are mostly held in person at George Washington University with online engagement.