The 38th China Lecture Series invited the renowned expert on the US-China relations from China, Prof. Jia Qingguo of Peking University. Prof. Jia evaluated the current state of the US-China relations and attempted to provide future direction by looking at the continuity and discontinuity in the US-China bilateral relations.

There are several sources of discontinuity in the Sino-American relations. First, there has been significant change in the capacity of the two countries in accordance to China’s economic, military, and cutting-edge technological development. Second, gap between the political systems in the US and China widened. Third, ideological differences between the two countries have become more prominent. Fourth, both the US and China are coming to interpret each other’s intention more in the negative light compared to the past. Fifth, the domestic sentiment in the two countries of the bilateral relations is becoming more pessimistic. Last but not least, Prof. Jia emphasized that the US and Chinese governments are increasingly trying to prevent further damages by taking preventive measures.

However, there still exist major points of continuity in the US-China relations. According to Prof. Jia, strategic interests of the US-China relations remain the same without radical changes. Both countries maintain to benefit from the status quo of the existing global order. Despite ideological differences, the US and China do not compete, and stable US-China relations serve better purpose for other countries.

Against this back , Prof. Jia predicted that the US-China relations are already in its vicious cycle, and with the US presidential election looming, it is unlikely to turn over a new leaf. However, since both countries are well aware of the fact that they cannot undermine their strategic and core interests, the worsening of the US-China relations has its own limitation. Prof. Jia concluded his lecture by emphasizing the importance of close coordination at the working level among scholars, experts, and government officials between the US and China in the long term.