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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

US expert on China aims to ‘crack open’ echo chambers, renew relations

  • Scott Kennedy is in China in a bid to reinvigorate academic communication and temper anxieties on both sides
  • The trip, which includes meeting with Chinese foreign vice-minister, comes at a sensitive time for Beijing

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A US academic from a Washington-based think tank, is spending a month in China in a bid to reinvigorate academic communication and temper anxieties on both sides. Photo: Reuters
Amber Wangin Beijing
A leading China expert with a Washington-based think tank has been meeting official and business contacts in China, in a rare in-person exchange between two countries mired in geopolitical tensions and pandemic complications.
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Scott Kennedy, an expert on Chinese business and economics with the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is visiting Shanghai and Beijing during a month-long trip in China.

He met Chinese foreign vice-minister Xie Feng on Saturday, making him one of the few US academics to be received in person by senior Chinese officials in Beijing since the start of the pandemic.

Scott Kennedy and Chinese foreign vice-minister Xie Feng discussed US-China relations on Saturday in Beijing. Kennedy hopes to helps enhance communication between the two countries outside official government channels. Photo: Weibo
Scott Kennedy and Chinese foreign vice-minister Xie Feng discussed US-China relations on Saturday in Beijing. Kennedy hopes to helps enhance communication between the two countries outside official government channels. Photo: Weibo
Kennedy said his trip was aimed at punching through official narratives to create new lines of communication in both countries, and called for the restoration of more in-person scholarly exchanges.

“My trip in China is meant to open up a crack in their echo chamber, let some air in, see what people think here, and then help open the echo chamber door back in the US, and see if that generates some new thoughts,” Kennedy said in a speech at the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in Beijing.

“My sense is that there’s a lot of reasonable anxieties in both countries, while some of the narratives on both sides may have exacerbated anxieties. Both need to know that and have a conversation to lower the volume. And I also hope China can take steps to restore face-to-face dialogue for more foreign scholars and businesspeople.”
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According to a Chinese statement, Xie called for more visits by academics to improve bilateral ties. The two also discussed bilateral issues, it added.

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