The South China Morning Post (May 23) reported that Wang Jisi, President of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University and one of China's top America experts, while addressing a ceremony attended by former Chinese diplomats to launch the new American Studies Centre at Zhejiang International Studies University in Hangzhou on May 15, regretted that American studies in China are "too weak". Speaking via video, Wang Jisi said “I feel a bit ashamed and uncomfortable that our American studies are too weak. We Chinese always say our American studies are deeper and broader than China studies in the US – I think that’s inaccurate and incorrect.” Chinese academics have warned of a knowledge gap with rival the United States, calling American studies in China “too weak” compared to Chinese studies in the US.There is a growing consensus in China that Beijing and Washington will remain locked in a power competition in the foreseeable future, despite the change of US leadership. While Chinese diplomats continue to urge officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration to “correct” the China policy of his predecessor, Chinese academics have been more open in acknowledging the changing nature of bilateral ties. Wang Jisi had argued in January that the rivalry had gone far beyond great-power competition and ideological differences. Other Chinese academics who spoke and agreed with Wang Jisi were: Zhu Feng, Director of the Institute of International Relations at Nanjing University, who said “It takes creativity and academic space, but in China, diplomatic issues are firstly political issues, and that space is quite limited here compared to the United States, where candid and completely free academic discussions can take place” and Pang Zhongying, Professor of International Affairs at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, who said that the knowledge gap will adversely affect China’s US policy, especially given that relations between Beijing and Washington are increasingly defined by their rivalry.
|
