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‘Our American studies are too weak’: Chinese scholars warn of knowledge gap with US peers
- They say China is lagging behind and there are concerns it could adversely affect Beijing’s policy
- Academic freedom is one issue, scholars also call attention to the brain drain of US affairs experts
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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.
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The issue was first raised in a speech by Wang Jisi, president of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University in Beijing.
“I feel a bit ashamed and uncomfortable that our American studies are too weak,” said Wang, one of China’s top US affairs scholars, in the May 15 address. “We Chinese always say our American studies are deeper and broader than China studies in the US – I think that’s inaccurate and incorrect.”
Wang was speaking by video link at a ceremony attended by former Chinese diplomats to launch the new American Studies Centre at Zhejiang International Studies University in Hangzhou.
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. Chinese diplomats continue to urge officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration to “correct” the China policy of his predecessor, Donald Trump. But Chinese academics have been more open in acknowledging the changing nature of bilateral ties – Peking University professor Wang in January argued that the rivalry had gone far beyond great-power competition and ideological differences.
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